


Concurrent Existences

by Sephyxia



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Dark Hermione Granger, F/F, Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-14
Updated: 2018-06-13
Packaged: 2018-08-30 21:25:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 25,922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8549659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sephyxia/pseuds/Sephyxia
Summary: The war is finally over. Hermione just wanted to enjoy the peace, sit back, read and study, but that never happens. Hermione's wish is granted in a roundabout way, but becomes a curse as much as it is a gift. How long does it take to break Hermione Granger? How long until she actually retaliates? - Slightly Dark!Hermione/Bellatrix





	1. Weight of Knowledge

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally posted on FF and had a few readers suggest to post it on Ao3 as well. Everything will be straight from the original as I don't really have much time to really edit. Chapters will be posted weekly or when I have extra time. (Name in FF and Ao3 are the same.)
> 
> The whole thing is missing the italics by the way since it didn't come along in copy paste. Hopefully it doesn't hurt the story too much. Sorry! :(

**Concurrent Existences**

Chapter One: Weight of Knowledge

* * *

_Aimless knowledge locked in a book._

_Just a peek, just a look._

_One spell fired to set the score._

_And aimless I am, no more._

* * *

Hermione was enjoying her peace and quiet in the common room until a page from the book she had been reading tore a bit at the edges as she was turning it.

_Shite._

There were barely any students in Hogwarts since the school was still undergoing repairs. The noisy Gryffindor common room was pleasantly quiet as the brunette sat alone and in peace with her hobby.

Hermione's mind drifted off to thoughts about her parents. She would have tried to look for her parents right after the Wizarding War, but it would have been futile. There was still no possible way to fix the Obliviate she had placed them under. Contrary to the rumors, there is still no counter curse to a full Obliviate.

The witch muttered a spell to fix the slight tear at the edge of the page and continued to read, but as she turned the next page, it tore again.

 _Shite!_ She tensed, recognizing this as a bad omen. Not that she believed in such things.

After the common room had been repaired, it was mostly empty due to most furniture being destroyed. The brunette took it upon herself and began adding furniture taken from the Room of Requirement. The room that was engulfed by Fiendfyre was repaired, by what means, she had no idea. She also added a bookshelf.

Several months had passed since the Second Wizarding War. Hermione was the only one out of the Golden Trio to return to Hogwarts to take her N.E.W.T.s. It was somewhat lonely, but she could manage it. Some students had opted to stay and help repairs, but those that Hermione personally knew had not chosen to return yet. The horrors and fear experienced within the halls of Hogwarts were not easy to forget.

Both Harry and Ron had decided to skip going back to Hogwarts in favor of Auror training. The two boys did not need to take their N.E.W.T.s anymore since Kingsley Shacklebolt had given them their recommendations. Many wanted to protest, emphasizing the importance of the tests and trials for Auror training, but none openly went against the newly-elected Minister of Magic. Being a young war veteran that had direct involvement in destroying Voldemort had to earn them some points. Hermione was appalled at the reasoning, but the other two just waved her off.

Even with all the death and destruction that happened at Hogwarts, the relief of finally having a time of peace encouraged many to help rebuild the school. Hermione had also decided to retake her seventh year in Hogwarts even after taking her N.E.W.T.s. Both Harry and Ron were surprised at the decision, but Professor McGonagall expressed her delight at Hermione returning.

Although the professor was delighted at Hermione's decision, there was still a lot of rebuilding needed before classes could resume. Funerals had to be set up for those that passed in the war. Fred Weasley, Nymphadora Tonks and Remus Lupin were just among the few that died that day.

The peace and quiet the Gryffindor girl was experiencing was sadly short-lived. One thing that continued to occur during the past several months of mourning and rebuilding was Ron Weasley trying to _court_ Hermione Granger, to little success. It might be closer to _no success_ at all _._ The boy just couldn't a hint.

The redhead quickly entered the room and went towards the annoyed witch's side by the sofa. She knew it, those _bloody_ omens.

"Oh come on, 'Mione! I've been asking you out for several months now! I'm going to be a full blown Auror soon!" he wailed. Ron Weasley hadn't changed at all since the first year of Hogwarts. The red-haired male had always been a mix of whiny and arrogant. His voice soon began grating on her nerves.

The brunette did not even take her eyes off the book. 'Wandless Magic: A Prelude' was infinitely more interesting than the bumbling ginger goof that stood in front of her. Why had she liked this _boy_ again? She shook her head, blaming it on teenage hormones. Thank Merlin it passed.

"For the last time, Ron. I have no time for this. I'm busy." For the first few months _,_ Ron had always recognized the sharp tone of Hermione's voice that meant he was dismissed, but now? She sighed.

"But 'Mione! Come on! I know you've liked me since forever! You have a chance to be with this!" He gestured widely towards his body, "Ron Weasley, Auror-to-be and Hero of the Wizarding War!" Stick thin and lanky.

All Hermione wanted was some peace and quiet, but now she was considering using her three-inch thick book to smack the idiots head off. But no, the poor book did nothing to deserve that fate. It was possible for the book to magically transfer knowledge through direct contact, that was a thing right? Temptation!

Hermione was just about to respond when Ron slid in beside her. She knew she should have sat in the armchair and not the sofa.

"Personal space, Ronald!" She snapped. She shot a glare at Ron, a look bordering on hatred stemming from months of exasperation. He did not heed the girl's warnings and, instead, inched closer. It seemed as if he thought she was playing hard to get or some stupid dribble his infant mind had conjured.

Ron's face began to morph into some kind of-wait. Was he trying to kiss her _?_ Oh bloody Morgana, save her! Before Hermione could close the book and slam it over the idiot's head, he closed it for her and placed his hand firmly on her upper thigh.

Instant outrage filled the Gryffindor. No one was allowed to touch her without her permission. Before the infuriating twit could continue, she pushed him right off the sofa onto the floor. _This prat!_

"What the _fuck_ , Hermione?!" Ron yelled, his face contorting with confusion and anger. "I don't understand why you're playing so hard to get! Didn't I do enough to win you over?" She didn't even know what he meant. What had Ron done for her other than complicate the war?

Hermione's eyes narrowed in rage. "You egotistical arse! How dare you say that to me! I'm not just a bloody prize to win!"

"I've given you long enough Hermione. I didn't break up with Lavender just to get nothing. Come on!" Was Ron really saying this? Was this the dreaded foot-in-mouth syndrome?

"You'll be waiting a longer time then." Hermione voice was cold. She was slowly calming down.

"You're acting like one of those crazy muggles, Hermione! For Merlin's sake, be reasonable!" His hands clenched into fists. Ron moved forward and grabbed Hermione by her shoulders, a move she did not appreciate.

Hermione flinched. She looked around and took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down as he continued talking. The room was still empty since classes hadn't officially started so calling for help might not be prudent. The brunette wanted to hex the boy back to the burrow he spawned from, but as his best friend, she should be understanding. The girl tried to ignore the insults the idiot was throwing out. Understanding, Hermione. Understanding.

"I'm glad I'm getting you all hot and bothered. Looks like all you need is a bit of rough handling." Ron grinned as he looked into her eyes, his hands grazing down her arms. He seemed to be speaking without thinking of anything at all. "You're shaking like a leaf for me." Understanding? _I'll make him bloody understand!_

Hermione raised her wand. "STUPEFY!" she yelled, a point blank shot hitting Ron Weasley in the chest, accelerating him straight into the bookshelf. She enjoyed the stunned look on the weasel's face just before a thick tome fell on his head, completely knocking him out.

The smartest girl of her age sighed as the adrenaline from her retaliation began to die down. She hoped the book wasn't damaged. She strode forward and knelt by Ron, picking up the book that had given the finishing. _Death and his Dementors._ Huh, she didn't remember having that in her collection. In any case, she needed to clean up this pile of rubbish before it started moving again.

"Expecto Patronum!" An ethereal otter appeared and began to lovingly rub its head on Hermione's leg. She smiled at her cute and adorable Patronus before beginning her message.

"Harry! You better get over here before I call the Aurors to haul Ron's bloody arse out!" The witch sighed as her Patronus left to deliver the message. She estimated that Ron would be out for another hour or so. Harry would probably get there soon. At least she could finally continue her book in relative peace. She was slightly tempted to shoot another spell in all truth.

She glanced around. There weren't any people anyway.

"Supefy!" See? Much better. Ron probably understood his lesson. If not, third time's the charm.

* * *

A week passed since the altercation with Ron. Hermione was having a quick lunch with Harry at the scarcely populated Great Hall. Harry had answered Hermione's Patronus post-haste, but did not have much time to talk about it at the time.

"Molly was not happy when I apparated with an unconscious drooling Ron." Harry had barely changed from the war, hair a bit longer, but still the same overall.

"I told you Harry, Ron was beginning to get physical. What did you want me to do? Allow him to manhandle me?" The witch huffed taking another swig of the pumpkin juice. Looks like it was a bit harder to convince Harry Potter that his best mate had been hounding her for months.

Harry frowned. He knew that Ron had been pestering Hermione for a relationship for a while now, but did not realize it had gotten this severe. He thought that Hermione and Ron would have gotten together right after the war, but it seems the need for affection was just post-battle need of affection. Looks like the kiss the two shared would be the last.

"It's just hard to believe that the Golden Trio, who have been friends for years are starting to split all of a sudden."

"Harry, you know you're like a brother to me, but I can't fake it. I may have had a tiny crush on Ron before, but that was just a school girl crush and nothing more. Both of you were the closest friends I've had. I'll even admit I had a small crush on you too. Don't tell Ginny!" Hermione narrowed her eyes, but Harry knew she was just jesting. She also had a crush on Ginny too, but he didn't need to know that. There was a tiny one on Gabriella too, but no one needed to know that one either.

"I think we all had small crushes on each other at one point in time. I'm just happy that Ginny and I are finally together." Harry looked solemn for a second and thought on the Weasley's reaction to this development. The fall out could be catastrophic depending on what Ron will feed them.

Harry shook his head of all the possibilities lost. "Everyone will be so disappointed that you aren't getting together with Ron though." He did hope that Hermione and Ron would get over this stage. He'd need to give Ron a stern talking to right after this. She could see the clock turn in Harry's head realizing that his red haired friend was not _slowly courting_ her.

"Enough about him. How goes the search for the leftover Death Eaters?" Hermione did not hear much news of the outside world. The witch was busy with her research and rebuilding of Hogwarts, but having Death Eaters still roaming free out there was an important issue.

Harry explained how there were still a lot of Death Eaters that were missing. Only a few had died during the war since Voldemort's demise had them all fleeing.

The brunette was actually surprised at the action of the Death Eaters after Voldemort had fallen. With the sheer amount of their dark forces, there was no way the Order was actually going to win if the assault continued. Thankfully the only true leaders of the other side were Voldemort and his lieutenant Bellatrix Lestrange. She had also thought that Bellatrix Lestrange would cause much more death and damage, but dying to Molly? It did not add up. A world renowned and feared duelist losing to house wife? Unlikely. Though it did happen, which was surprising.

"The press is going to have a field day with this you know? Rita Skeeter is going to twist this story so badly against you. She really detests you for some reason." Harry knew Rita Skeeter was an Animagus, but it seemed as if the reporter was solely focused on tarnishing Hermione's name. The brunette just gave a small chuckle and resumed eating. What was Ron going to do? Leak to the press? That she had used point blank Stupefy to spurn his advances? If anything the Stupefy was a tad too light of a punishment from several months of hounding.

Hermione felt content. This was how it was supposed to be. Peaceful banter with a side of laughing. It should have been the three of them here, but they would take what they could get. Hermione was just about to finish eating when the Great Hall doors slammed open.

A group of three Aurors entered and went straight for Hermione. Hermione already had an inkling on what had happened, but the boy-who-lived looked confused. Looks like she had guessed wrong about the steps Ron would be taking. The Stupefy had been too light of a punishment indeed.

"Hermione Granger. You are under arrest for the assault of Ronald Weasley. I'm sorry, but you will have to come with us." The lead Auror had a look on his face that he really did not want to be doing this, but had no choice. There was no point in resisting arrest or trying to explain herself now. The logical part of Hermione's brain knew that she needed to be patient and just go along with them. The illogical part wanted to run and send a bludger all the way up that weasel's arse.

Apparently, Harry didn't share the same opinion. "You can't take her in for assault! It was already deemed self-defense a week ago!" Oh, Harry, still so naive, but Hermione knew she was naive for believing that Ron would take this spurn from her laying down.

The Aurors began to placate Harry, just enough to cajole him into accompanying them to the Ministry of Magic where the Auror department was located. Harry had protested when anti-magic shackles were placed on Hermione's wrists, but the brunette just shook her head.

Luckily, McGonagall wasn't there or spells might have been slung around before even allowing Hermione to leave.

* * *

Three hours had passed and Hermione grieved. She should have brought a book! All this waiting in this blasted waiting room was a waste of time. At least she wasn't placed in a cell and those horrid shackles were off. There were some comforts, but the witch was sad at the time being burned up doing nothing.

The bright witch absentmindedly flicked the Time-Turner she wore around her neck. The last _working_ Time-Turner was around Hermione Granger's neck, charmed of course. The Time Room had been destroyed during the Battle of the Department of Mysteries and none of the Time-Turners were usable anymore. She contemplated on reversing time, but she could not reverse one whole week to undo cursing the foolish redheaded bugger. She fondly wondered if she _should reverse time to throw two spells instead of just one extra._ She was very tempted.

The door finally creaked after Hermione's patience was nearly exhausted. The witch had not expected to see Ron by the door with a smirk on his face. Adrenaline started to flow, her hand had quickly gone for her wand, but she cursed as she realized the lead Auror had taken it.

"Ah, ah, ah! No wand for my rebellious girlfriend this time." Ron smirk widened as he closed the door behind him. The room was soundproof and only contained two chairs and one table.

"What do you want Ronald?" It was obvious to Hermione how Ron had gotten in. The bigot most likely knew who the Auror guarding the room was. The Auror guarding the room was also most likely a misogynistic pureblood as well.

_Bloody Hell._

Hermione stood up from the chair she was seated in and slowly moved back. The girl tried to put as much distance as she could between them. Ron would mostly try to manhandle her again, before even thinking of using a spell. How badly she wanted to beat him with a beater. Hermione's mind began racing on how to win this particular encounter. _Let him get close and snatch the wand._ Plan made.

"Oh dear 'Mione, you think you'd get away with this? I filed assault against you, but I could drop it if you beg and start playing with me, if you know what I mean." Ron winked and wiggled his eyebrows. Hermione needed a trash bin to barf into. The git was loony.

_Bloody Hell!_

"It was self-defense, a Pensieve will attest to that fact." Hermione was sure the bumbling idiot could not compile the facts. How he had gotten her arrested still eluded her as the Aurors would have reviewed the idiot's memories before arresting her. Unless-

Hermione's eyes widened at the implication she just thought of now. Ron in a burst of wit grinned so wide when he saw Hermione realize what he had done.

"About that. Didn't think I was so smart, eh? Well, it wasn't actually my idea. Mum knew how to alter memories since dad had taught her. The Aurors didn't even say anything, well, the Auror we talked to anyway. It looks like being a pureblood still has sway in the Ministry after all!" Ron laughed. Kingsley was too busy to oversee all the things happening in the Ministry. A little help from his dad made the report on Hermione take a little longer before landing into the Minister's hands.

Hermione cursed. She couldn't believe the boy she had known for years would betray her like this just for what? a shag? An exert of dominance over a muggle-born? She knew that winning a case like this would be hard. The court case would turn into a 'he said, she said' match. Rita Skeeter most likely had already released headlines that went against her as well. The only true allies Hermione still had was Harry Potter and Minerva McGonagall for sure, but neither could help her at this time.

"We do have a few hours 'Mione." Ron began to walk forward weirdly, trying to walk sexily, but instead looked like he was a limping drunk. The witch knew he wouldn't even last a minute, a minute might be too kind _._

Hermione wanted to chuckle, but the situation was dire. Ron could still overpower her with strength and that would most likely be the end if she could not reach his wand. Ron was halfway through the room when she decided to practice what she had been reading last in Hogwarts.

The arsehole wouldn't be getting the better of her or her virginity without a fight. "Wingardium Leviosa!" Wandlessly, Hermione flicked the chair at the side of the room to propel and smash right into the offending redhead. The force of the hit was powerful enough that carrot-top was flung straight into door, but this time there was no book to finish him off. There and then, she wish she had learned a wandless stunning spell. She only knew a few other wandless spells and none of them would help right now.

Anger morphed into the Weasley's face as he brought up his wand. Hermione sent the table and the other chair towards Ron, but the boy had a wand, deflecting the incoming projectiles even while slumped on the floor was easy.

_Shite._

"This is no place for your ideals. Smartest witch of her age, hah! You won't change anything. I should have done this ages ago. I'll teach you how a proper wizard's wife should act. I want you to feel everything that's going to happen. You might like it." Ron smirked from feeling smart at what he said and re-aimed the wand.

"Petrificus Totalus!"

_I just wanted to be left alone to read._

Hermione could not dodge.

* * *

Petrificus Totalus - Full Body-Bind Curse

 **AN:** This is the first time I've actually submitted something online or anywhere as a matter of fact. Some spells are originally created to progress the story(Most are just vague Latin translations). I have a decent plot line in my head, but everything is subject to change. I'll try my utmost best to keep characters in character, but some of them need to be shifted (Ron's a bit of an arse here, sorry to his fans).

Rating is M, but could probably pass off as T for swear words and such. Just playing safe.

Updates will come from time to time since I write/type slow. I tried my best to eliminate any inconsistencies and paradoxes in my story. Advanced apology for any left. Sorry for grammatical mistakes and other mistakes, I write the story on my phone most of the time!

Reviews, comments, constructive criticism and suggestions are always appreciated.

 **Edit:** Just a few tiny errors I fixed.

 **Edit:** I put a poem at the start. I don't know why, it seems kind of cute. Might just put it up on all future chapters too!

 **01/16/16 Edit:** Someone brought to my attention that Harry knew about Rita being an Animagus already. Soo~ Changed!


	2. Limbo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Found a way to keep the formatting! Yays!

**Concurrent Existences**

Chapter Two: Limbo

* * *

_Again, lost and betrayed._

_Quickly forgotten, quicker to fade._

_Secrets lost, secrets found._

_Lost in time, alone and bound._

* * *

"Petrificus Totalus!"

_I just wanted to be left alone to read._

Hermione could not dodge.

* * *

Hermione could not dodge at all within the confines of the room. She inwardly cringed, closed her eyes and steeled herself from the incoming petrification spell.

Nothing.

 _What?_ Had the spell missed?

All the brunette had felt was a slight push back and nothing more. She quickly opened her eyes and scanned the room. Her eyes came upon Ron who still had the smug expression on his face with his wand pointed straight at her. The expression on his face though, it was really annoying, but it was also frozen.

_The spell hit the Time-Turner._

Fear gripped Hermione's heart as she realized what had happened. Ron's spell had somehow petrified the Time-Turner. The Hour-Reversal Charm placed on the Time-Turner was somehow inflicted with the Full Body-Bind Curse. She quickly removed the chain around her neck and confirmed her suspicions. The sand within the glass was frozen. No matter how many times she tried shaking it, nothing happened. She began to calm herself down knowing that it would be futile to panic in this kind of situation.

"This isn't as bad as what I've faced before." She tried hyping herself up. This little mishap was nothing compared to the war she had been caught up in.

The witch finally calmed down after several moments. The effect of the Petrificus Totalus on the Time-Turner should wear off eventually, but she had never heard of Petrificus Totalus work on inanimate objects. She deemed it necessary to delve into this further and the first order of business would be to get out of this room, but not before some sweet vengeance.

Hermione never was a vengeful type of person, but the war had changed her. The war made her a more self-sufficient person, more independent and more strategic, but she knows it did not make her a better person overall. Losing her naiveté to war had brought out something from within her. She deduced it to just be the darker side people develop after going through traumatic experience such as a war. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PSTD is what muggles would have called it.

After three stress releasing low-blows and a snap of a wand, Hermione opened the door slowly to get out. It was as she expected, everything was frozen. Each and every person and item, all frozen in time.

Hermione quickly made the assumption that physics did not exist when time was frozen. This was made apparent by the fountain that had just stopped with water still in the air. She began a few simple experiments just to know more about the current situation she was stuck in.

The witch was able to move things around. She tried throwing a pencil, but as soon as it left her hand, it froze in mid-air. She concluded that objects could only move when in direct contact with her. This did not work on humans however since Ron had no reaction after getting hit three times in the groin.

One thought that scared her was the aftermath of the Time Room after the Battle in the Department of Mysteries. The Time Room had all the destroyed Time-Turners that all coalesced into one infinite time loop, rendering all unusable. Panic began to rise again, but she pushed it down.

_The Basilisk, Voldemort and Bellatrix were all more scary than this!_

Hermione took a deep breath before heading towards the Auror office where she could retrieve her wand. The walk only took a couple of minutes and locating her wand was easy enough. Her beautiful vine wood wand was just laying there on the counter, about to be catalogued when time froze. She quickly took her wand and apparated to Hogwarts. The brunette did remind herself to replace her about-to-be impounded wand with another fake though.

Hogwarts had an anti-Apparating and anti-Disapparating Jinx placed, but thankfully, Minerva had allowed her room to bypass that. Being a favored student to the new headmistress of Hogwarts had its perks.

Hermione re-materialized in her room. She had gotten away from that git, Ron, and it would be easy to prove to the Aurors that Ron had falsified memories. The only problem was getting out of this Time-Turner problem.

"I knew I should've gotten rid of you." She sighed while twirling and slightly glaring at the Time-Turner.

She did a swish of her wand before pointing it back at herself and casted. "Age Revelare." The Age Revelare spell was one of the simple spells to display a person's age from years to seconds. The spell would display digits that mirrored from one's own mind making it possible for any language to come out. The age displayed was correct down to the day, even including the Time-Turner aging during her third year, but the seconds weren't.

_Not good._

How did she know? Well, it was because the seconds weren't moving at all. Her body was stuck in some pseudo time suspension just as everything else was. There was only one thing left to do at this time.

_Research._

Hermione nodded to herself. There was no way to tell when the spell would end. The best solution she could think of is to try and figure out the inner workings of the spell herself. There should be some counter-curse. She thought about it for a moment and smacked her head.

"Finite Incantatem!" Nothing happened, the counter-curse for most general jinxes and curses did not work. "Well it was worth a try." She sighed heavily and begun to think what she should do first.

A grin suddenly split onto Hermione's face. The restricted area of the library! She would have free reign!

On the way towards the library she realized it had been a couple of hours since her last meal, but had yet to feel any hunger or even a need to go to the bathroom. She deduced that there was no need to eat or sleep since her body was in some wacky state of suspended animation. It felt a bit weird, but the situation she was in was beyond weird anyway.

_No sleep, more time to read!_

"Looks like my wish came true. If a bit round-about and bizarre." The witch smiled as she headed over to the library. Now she kind of hoped the spell would last a while, maybe a few weeks? There was so much she could do during this time with no interruptions what so ever. The time for peace and quiet had finally come to her! The time to browse whatever she wanted at her own leisure.

Hermione went through the wooden door that lead to the restricted section and began looking around. Ghosts, traps and whatever hidden surprises were all frozen in time leaving her undisturbed. The restricted section was well organized after browsing through a few shelves. A book on Time spells and Time-Turners were there, but she had no interest in undoing this accidental miracle right away.

The brunette took out several books and trekked towards the dusty desk. A quick Scourgify cleaned everything up nicely. She opened the first book of her small pile 'Wandless Magic: Advanced Spells'. The inquisitive teen wondered why this book would be in the restricted section, but did not ponder on it much as she began to devour the book.

* * *

A week passed.

Hermione was tidy as ever. Every time she finished a book, she would place it back where it belonged keeping everything orderly. Time was now unimportant to her and was thus ignored. She'd gone a little over thirty books and understood them all. The brunette did have a near eidetic memory and could remember most of everything she read. Application and testing would have to be done another day. Even though time was unimportant, the spell could still end at anytime if it indeed had a duration.

Magic books, story books, books of magical animals and every kind of book she went through, except for Divination. The Divination book was lucky to survive when she recalled Sybill Trelawney's face. Why it was even a branch of magic eluded her.

_Worst subject ever._

The books on muggle history was another thing, but she didn't even want to get into that rubbish.

* * *

A month passed.

Hermione had no actual way of telling time. Nothing moved. The bright witch once tried to get a wrist watch, but sadly the hands of the watch did not move even when she touched it. The gears on the inside of the watch were still frozen in time even if the outside of the watch touched her. Only things she could manually move would actually move.

The girl began exploring Hogwarts in-between reading her books. Reading every single book was fine, but she needed some time to process a few of the details. Navigating Hogwarts was an easy task since she had already read 'Hogwarts, A History'.

The visit to her mentor, Minerva, was a slightly sad endeavor as she could see the distraught look on Minerva's face. Her professor was seated in her office staring down sadly upon the article released by the evil Rita Skeeter. She vowed to remember this. Rita Skeeter wouldn't get out of this unscathed. It seems that she had missed the newspaper that morning since technically only three hours had actually passed in real time.

Reaching over and slowly taking the article from the desk, Hermione began reading the dreaded article.

'Mud Sullies Gold as Hermione Granger Assaults Hero Ronald Weasley.' Her anger grew at the headlines, but continued to read. She had to be fair when dealing out her revenge against the nasty reporter. How nasty depended on the article.

'Part of the Golden Trio, Hermione Granger, has been reported to have assaulted Ronald Weasley in Hogwarts. Many bystanders heard Miss Granger berating Mister Weasley on why he wouldn't date her.'Hermione's eyes widened at how the story was twisted so much. There had to be a law against this! She would sue!

'As the fight escalated, the witnesses heard that Miss Granger had begun to blackmail Mister Weasley to go out with her or else she would expose him. The secret was never revealed.' Hermione was pretty sure that there weren't any students in the area either.

_That nasty little beetle._

Mister Weasley gave a comment when we interviewed him after this altercation. I quote, "I don't know what got into Hermione lately. I knew she had a huge crush on me, but I can't cheat on Lavender. I just can't." Mister Weasley decided not to comment further after his heartfelt confession.' _Kill_. Hermione wanted to kill the lying git! No, she wanted to set him on fire! How could he? She would set them both on fire!

The newspaper was set ablaze before she could even read more. Apparently her magic could still burn things in close proximity to her. Her skill with wandless magic continued to grow as she practiced it day after day without fail. She concentrated on maintaining the flames so it would continue and fully burn and not freeze in time. She'd have to clean that up.

It was slightly eerie not hearing anyone speak or any sounds for several weeks. Hermione realized she hadn't even heard her own voice for a long while now. It looked like the time had come to begin researching on how to undo the dilemma she was in.

"I don't know if this is heaven or hell anymore." The brightest witch of her age sighed and began her trek back to her sanctuary, the restricted section. The girl began to wandlessly spin conjurations of fire, water, earth and wind around her hand. It was no wonder the advanced book was hidden in the restricted section. There was just too much damage that could be done if wandless magic was truly mastered. Even learning it was dangerous. She winced as she remembered burning her hand and cutting the other by mistake. She was glad she didn't try to practice in the library.

* * *

A year passed.

Over a thousand books had already been read. Each nook and cranny of Hogwarts had been searched and there was next to nothing about the Time-Turner. There was one book she found, but barely talked about anything she needed.

Hermione started to become frantic after the first three months passed without any success. She estimated three months anyway. She began to try and calculate time. According to her calculations by her 'words per minute' while reading a book and 'steps per minute' while walking around, it seemed to be three months. This time thing was starting to make her loony for even thinking about it like that.

Her expression slightly deadened when her stay in the perpetually frozen time had reached about a year. She enjoyed the peace and quiet and all the time to research, but begun to miss her friends and some interaction with people. Even began to miss the sexual assaulting idiot, well, before he got to that point anyway.

The restricted section had the very basics of Time Magic. Professor McGonagall's library combined with the former headmaster Albus Dumbledore had a wide range of interesting, restricted and forbidden magics. It was tempting to spend time reading the tomes, but it was not what she was looking for. She would have to go over all those juicy books in their office, but she wanted a way to solve the time problem.

One particular object did pique her interest though. A diary of Dumbledore that she found under Fawkes' perch in the headmasters room. It would have always been protected by Fawkes and by enchantments, but Fawkes was gone after Dumbledore died and time was frozen. She hadn't meant to find the diary, she was trying to see if there were any phoenix feathers that she could gather. For _research_ purposes of course.

The smile the exceptional witch had while looking through the diary soon fell apart into shock then into disbelief. She had opened it to maybe find a couple of Dumbledore's signature spells or anything interesting, but not _this._

The diary was enchanted and spanned back several decades to the time when the first Dark Lord, Gellert Grindelwald was still amongst the living. She was surprised that Albus Dumbledore, leader of the Order, would have possibly been a co-Dark Lord to Grindelwald if the altercation between his family had not happened. The part she was concerned about was more recent, the years that she and Harry were in Hogwarts. She had never truly realized how manipulative the headmaster had been until now.

Hermione had been a _pawn_ from the very start. From start to end, it seemed everything was calculated.

'The hat was slightly more complicated to persuade. The hat had been created by the founders of Hogwarts and would not yield to any conventional magic. It had taken a lot of research and _other_ means to manipulate the hat and all that would only work for a limited duration. The duration would last for only one student and I already have the perfect candidate.' Gryffindor was not even supposed to be her house, it was Ravenclaw, but he had manipulated the hat.

Hermione's heart began beating faster, but she had to know more. She read on.

'Placing a Compulsion Charm on most of the Gryffindor first years turned out to be easy enough to conjure. Miss Granger needs to be isolated in order to drift her towards Harry. Mister Weasley should be easy to maneuver as well. Another Compulsion Charm may be needed to anchor Miss Granger to one of them in the future, but that is still years to come. It is all for the greater good.' He had been controlling everything from the start. She flipped to another page.

'I can feel my end nearing. The curse that came from the ring that held the Resurrection Stone continues to kill me slowly, poisoning my failing body bit by bit even now. I have put another series of Compulsion Charms on Miss Granger to fall in love with Mister Weasley. I would have connected her to Harry, but I need him focused on the task at hand and his destiny. I hope that both of them will get deeper into a relationship so that Miss Granger would be fully tied to them even after the Compulsion Charm fades. I know it will fade slowly after my death, but I believe it will be enough time for them.' Apparently it had not even been _teenage_ _hormones_. It had been a Compulsion Charm. _A Compulsion Charm! Morgana, she wanted to burn something!_

Hermione closed her eyes. She wanted to cry, but tears would not fall. She didn't regret the time spent with Harry and Ron. The adventures they had went on were the highlights of her life even if she didn't really want to go. Her problem was that everything had been a lie. Everything was orchestrated. She couldn't believe her life was always endangered due to an old man playing god. An old man who needed children to do his dirty work. She flipped the pages to the near end, not wanting to read much more.

'My time has come. I will have Severus kill me in order to push the plan forward and cement his role in the dark side. Harry will be the one to lead this age to the light to a new golden age for wizards and witches everywhere. The one last protection I have done for him is to place another Compulsion Charm on Mister Weasley and Miss Granger to sacrifice their life if ever Harry's life is in danger. I'd like to apologize to both Mister Weasley and Miss Granger, but everything I've done has been for the greater good. Perhaps I can apologize to them in the next world. I will see you soon, Gellert.' Speechless. There was still much of the past to read, but she could not bring herself to read another page. The infernal diary would be kept until she deemed herself ready to ready more of Dumbledore's machinations.

Hermione could not even bring herself to read another book for several hours. She cast a specialized diagnostic spell that came from Dumbledore's other custom spell books to check if there were any charms left on her.

 _Nothing_.

All the charms that had been placed on her had faded soon after Dumbledore had died. It was no wonder she felt nothing towards Ron after the end of the Wizarding War. There was _nothing_ in the first place. The utter _bastard._

She sat in the corner of the restricted section of the library. She really wished she could cry herself to sleep. Instead, the brunette just stared blankly in front of her.

For the first time in her life, she felt _stupid._

A stupid little muggleborn that had no place in a society run by purebloods. Sure, there were muggleborns and half-bloods here and there, but in the real hierarchy of things, they didn't matter.

She used to believe she had truly made a difference for muggleborns by helping the Order in the war, but how much of it was actually by choice? Would she even be part of the war if not for the machinations of the old man?

The Order, proclaiming their helpful and understanding stance on muggleborns, just how much of it was a farce? The Order, lead by Albus Dumbledore, a half-blood, also populated by mostly purebloods. Had Dumbledore placed compulsion charms on everyone while they were still young? If a person was under the compulsion charm long enough, they probably wouldn't be able to discern it and most likely be fully indoctrinated as they grew up.

Hermione laughed seeing the parallels.

How much of a difference did the Order and the Death Eaters have? A half-blood leader and a council of mostly purebloods. Voldemort had probably gotten the support of purebloods early on which is why Dumbledore had to take getting the support of the muggleborns.

_Stupid._

_So stupid._

* * *

There was no point in being sullen for long. There was still a lot of things to think about and that was for the future. Right now, she had no future until she could get time to move forward again.

Hogwarts did not have the answers. The girl smacked her head wondering why she had only been searching at Hogwarts when the world was ripe for the taking. She had not read everything in Hogwarts, but she had already gone over all the interesting material she could find. Wandless Magic, Elemental Magic, Dark Curses, Jinxes, everything she deemed important had been read. There was no way to master every single one of them right away, but with the base knowledge, the possibilities were endless. She could work on mastering the knowledge some other time.

Hermione contemplated on using Ron as live target practice, but decided against it. A target dummy though, she chuckled.

A year without needing any sleep, baths and food had been a blessing to Hermione. Dirt and grime did not cling onto her leaving her as fresh as the day time froze. The amount of training and learning she had done would amount to at least three to five years if she had done it in regular time. It was a curse as well, but she decided not to dwell on the fact.

The witch went to the common room one last time to look over her things. She had not been here for months since she had stayed in the restricted section. She moved towards the bookcase, the same bookcase Ron had slammed into. Her brown eyes zeroed in on the book that had smacked Ron's head and remembered that she promised herself to read it. Hermione decided to read one last book before a visit to the Ministry.

'Death and his Dementors'. She opened the book to look at the author, but there was none. Author name, publication date, all the information was missing.

 _Odd_.

Hermione's interest was stimulated, even if it wasn't a spell book.

* * *

Age Revelare - Age Reveal

 **AN:** Thanks for the reviews and pms! Decided to post up this chapter instead of waiting longer (I'll probably get slower and slower though x.x). Sorry for the ones who hate Time Magic, but I'll need to use it a bit. It might have been obvious from the 'Concurrent' part of the title.

I won't screw up cannon as much as I can though. I'll be working around it.

I do hope you enjoy this chapter even if it is a bit wordy. Not much interaction either, but eh, plot! Forgive me for grammatical errors too!

Questions, comments, constructive criticism and suggestions are always appreciated!

 **Edit:** Errr, added a poem-ish thing like the first chapter. If everyone thinks it's bad I'll remove them. (They're kind of like mini-spoilers, that don't really spoil anything?)


	3. Burning Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writer's block sucks~ Haven't written anything new and I've barely updated this x.x

**Concurrent Existences**

Chapter Three: Burning Time

* * *

_Searching high, searching low._

_Years flash by as time stops its flow._

_Light at the end, destination in sight._

_Years still burned, still alone in my plight._

* * *

'Death and his Dementors'. She opened the book to look at the author, but there was none. Author name, publication date, all the information was missing.

_Odd_.

Hermione's interest was stimulated, even if it was not a spell book.

* * *

Seven years passed.

Hermione looked as fresh and clean as she did since the start of the time limbo. Nothing about her appearance had changed aside from a slightly aged look that her brown eyes gave off.

She had gone through nearly all Ministry records to search for a clue. The Ministry had no secrets to hide, from her anyway. The Department of Mysteries, the surviving areas of it, weren't so mysterious anymore. It was laughable how easy it was to get in a lot of the areas.

The brunette had gone through the whole Ministry just as she had gone through Hogwarts. Each of the Ministry's ten levels had been thoroughly visited. All reports, experiments and whatever else the ministry had to hide was open for Hermione to touch and read. She had almost set the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures ablaze after some reports, but decided against it.

Going through a lot of the Ministry records was mostly a big pain though. Her search wasn't so thorough because there were just too many _useless_ records around.

The girl that was supposed to be around twenty five years old, if time had been moving, grimaced as she recalled a few of the reports that concerned her. The only report she had expected was the 'assault' charge that Ron had stupidly filed against her, but that was nothing compared to the other documents uncovered.

Gringotts Wizarding Bank had actually filed a complaint against her, complaint being a tamer word for it. In short, Gringotts apparently wanted her head. The report implicated all three of the Golden Trio, but Gringotts realized that a muggle-born without a family would be a good place to start with. Gringotts had asked for one hundred thousand Galleons as reparations or _'We will accept lifelong servitude as repayment'._ Hermione gaped.

_My bloody arse._ Hermione Granger was not going to be anyone's slave. Burning the file along with the room was tempting, but she had opted to leave everything as is. The less impact on time, the better.

She was actually surprised how much she held back burning everything. She had learned how to cast Fiendfyre a while back from a dark spell book, maybe it was time to use it? She could cast the Fiendfyre and not concentrate on it, which would leave it frozen in time, then she could cast a lot of them that would go off when time resumed.

_You're getting crazy, Hermione._

Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures had also filed a complaint against her for riding the _bloody_ dragon from Gringotts. The file claimed that she had needed to pay ten thousand galleons in reparation as well as a full paid trip for ten _bloody_ years in Azkaban.

_No. Never._

Never would she be imprisoned in Azkaban without dying first or under her own terms. Hadn't she liberated the abused dragon from the goblins? Ungrateful pests!

These secrets were among the very base of what the witch had found out. Conspiracies, blackmail and every other horrible thing possible was draped all over the Ministry. The _new_ Ministry, even under Kingsley, would not do much better than before. The rot was too deep to try to reform. It seemed as if Voldemort was on to something in wanting to destroy the Ministry, not that he was very smart about it.

_Too_ _inefficient_. She would have done much better than that noseless snake.

Hermione was saddened by all the truths. Her own outlook had begun to turn darker after everything she had gone through. Isolation from when she was a child where she was first disliked due to her reading hobby and then feared due to her budding magic.

Everything in Hogwarts controlled by a manipulative old man who had Compulsion Charms flying out of his arse like the candy he offers.

Her parents still stuck in Australia without a care in the word, it wasn't their fault, but still. It's like she had no one. Nothing to hang on to. Harry, Ginny and Luna, how much of their friendship was actually true? Had they been inflicted with Compulsion Charms too? How much of Dumbledore's plans were not written in his damned diary?

Ignorance was a blessing.

_Maybe being stupid wasn't such a bad thing._ She shook her head. She wouldn't blame herself for the injustice the idiots that were playing game-master were doing.

The time she spent alone, all this time, didn't help her psyche at all. However strong minded a person could be, being alone for years had to take its toll somehow. The girl still had one thing to focus on and it was how to undo the time lock. Everything else she had seen would be put at the back of her mind, _for_ _now_.

Everything and everyone would be dealt with accordingly. This is one thing she vowed to herself.

There was nearly nothing though, until she had actually visited the Time Room. Hermione didn't rush straight to the Time Room since she didn't know what the time distortions could do to her current state, but in the end she just had no choice.

* * *

Her time problem finally had a lead after a visit to the logs of the Time Room. Eloise Mintumble, the unspeakable, who had been the last tester and researcher for Time Magic. According to the buried report of 1899, Eloise Mintumble was able to go back four hundred years into the past for five days, but returned to the present four hundred years older. The case was not exactly what she was experiencing, but it was a variant. The Time Room had been no further help since the battle destroyed most other records.

_Well, it was something at least._

The Ministry resources were exhausted. It was time to visit the Mintumble personal libraries and any other old family connected to the Mintumbles. The Ministry may have had several million records, but aside from the Department of Mysteries, there wasn't much knowledge to learn from the Ministry. It did take a _long_ while to actually go through the documents at the Department of Mysteries. The brunette also didn't skip out on reading a lot of the reports from the other departments, but she couldn't really go through _everything._ She still went through most.

_Knowledge is power._ She was done with people manipulating things. Dumbledore, The Order and the Ministry could all go screw themselves, at least the noseless snake was upfront with his bullshit. Come to think of it, Voldemort was pretty upfront with all his plans. He didn't really outright lie to people.

The dead lord promised gifts to people that would follow him, soon after used Avada on them. It was said that death is a blessing, he probably took it literally. Oh god, she was identifying with a madman.

She sighed and dismissed her wandering thoughts.

After a quick visit to the records room, Hermione had the addresses she needed. Mintumbles, Crouch, Malfoy, Black, Rosier, Selwyn were just a few of the old pure-blood families that Hermione planned to visit. A lot of forbidden and forgotten magic were probably housed in their mansions especially the Blacks and the Malfoys, where Voldemort resided for a time.

Normally, it would be impossible to raid any pure-blood house. The magical protections and wards placed to protect the pure-blood properties vaporized any intruder. Luckily, the time freeze had frozen all magic flow making them all useless.

Hermione was just about to leave the Ministry when she saw the room she had been detained in years ago. Ron was still standing there, slightly bent over due to the low blows she had dealt at the time. The weasel's wand still snapped in half while still in his hand. She had contemplated several times to add more shots in, but thought better.

_Not yet._

Several years without sleep, human contact and bombarded with truths would mentally age a person. Her age, mentally anyway, would be around forty or fifty by now. Merlin, she was like some kind of time hermit. The brunette couldn't help but face palm at the thought.

With a flick of the wrist, the table and two chairs that had been destroyed were restored instantly. Hermione's wandless magic leapt in bounds over the course of several years, but still had trouble with stronger spells. It occurred to her that the Dragon Heartstring used as the core of her wand would be the main catalyst for enhancing magic. She took a mental note to visit Gringotts and Ollivander's wand shop in the near future.

It was time to visit the darker side of things. It might actually be lighter compared to Dumbledore's hidden laundry and the Ministry's hidden garbage.

Only time would tell.

She knew she still had a lot of that.

* * *

The witch stuck in time found herself stuck in her thoughts when she reached the place she had been tortured all those years ago.

Malfoy Manor. The place where her scream echoed throughout the halls as the hateful dark witch carved into her arm. The place where the war truly took the toll on her. The place where she was up against terror-incarnate. It was sad how useless she was against the dark witch at the time.

Could she have a chance now? Yes. Maybe. The dark witch always looked as if something held her back. Whether scars from Azkaban, a mutinous wand she didn't own or whatever else there was. The brunette was actually somewhat glad that Bellatrix was insane, how strong and powerful would a _sane_ Bellatrix be?

Bellatrix by far was the only other threat in the war, she may have been a bitch, but the dark witch had Hermione's respect.

_Two sides of the same coin._

The brunette still couldn't get over the fact that the only true female Death Eater was bested by a _healthy_ housewife. The one monster that haunted her dreams for months, killed by Molly Weasley when even Luna, Ginny and herself couldn't win against her all at the same time. Rage at Ginny being nearly killed? The only thing rage ever brought Hermione was her mind getting duller.

The witch left the area and began to look around to find the library. She wasn't here just to sightsee. Lo and behold, Draco was there in the hallway.

Her animosity towards Draco had dispersed especially during the last few months of the war. The young Slytherin became much more introverted due to the war and likely due to narrowly escaping a trip to Azkaban. Harry had vouched for Draco and Narcissa, apparently, that was all that was needed to get them cleared.

Lucius was another thing though. Stuck in Azkaban, at least the Dementors were being removed, well, supposedly.

The Malfoy library was huge. Before Hermione even could start perusing the books, she saw Narcissa seated on one of the chairs with a book on the table and a picture frame in hand. The three sisters were all happily smiling from a time when there wasn't a war, from a time when they were but students in Hogwarts. So much for Bellatrix being an evil monster from birth.

Hell, Bellatrix was prettier than Ginny or Gabriella, hands down. She stopped that train of thought.

_I am losing it. Shite._

The white lily on Bellatrix's ear really did suit her though.

* * *

Fifteen years had passed since the time lock.

Hermione _finally_ found her answer.

There was so much she had learned over several years since she left the Ministry. She chuckled as she recalled going over the pure-blood histories and family trees for fun. Many of the so called pure-bloods were not so pure after all. There were just so many secrets she had uncovered that it was ridiculous.

_So much for Pansy being a pureblood._

There would be a lot of time to use the information for the future, if she could get time to move again. Hermione went back to the Gryffindor common room where everything started. The witch swished her hand and the chair moved behind her instantaneously and a book she had not seen in over a decade floated towards her.

Hermione gazed fondly at the new items that adorned her finger, wrist and ear. She had combined the knowledge that she had _borrowed_ from the goblins and from the wand maker to create artifacts that acted as a wand. It was laughable that items such as these were not created before. They probably were, but lost in time.

Artifacts that augmented wandless magic making a wand unneeded. It was probably due to all the racism and hidden secrets that it was never discovered. She highly doubted the goblin and human wand makers would ever collaborate, in this century at least. She had created two rings, two earrings and two armlets. Each of the artifacts she had made contained a single strand of Dragon Heart String. She would have created more, but she could not handle more.

Hermione had also wanted to be symmetrical when wearing her newly created artifacts and thus created a pair for each. The problem was that the brunette had almost died when she put on more than three of the artifacts at one time. Keeping the raw magic from overwhelming and destroying her own magic core took a few days to contain and another few days to fully recover.

The time she spent recovering on the floor was not something she wanted to repeat. The itch on her nose she couldn't reach almost killed her. Maybe that was the reason Voldemort took his nose out?

The witch decided to wear one of each pair. A ring and earring on the right and an armlet on her left. It looked like she could only use three of them at the moment. She wondered if this was like holding three wands at the same time. Had anyone actually tried using more than one wand? What about tying more than one wand together using the special string? She still had many ideas, but ingredients were hard to find. The rest were locked in a vault that not even she could open easily.

It wasn't easy to create the trinkets either. It took over a year without rest or doing anything else to create what she currently had. It was trial and error, this type of thing wasn't her forte anyway. The brunette also realized she had a penchant for creating bombs since most of her early attempts at creating her pseudo magic foci ended up in a spectacular explosion, glad she tried that outside. Thankfully, it wasn't a subject at Hogwarts.

Hermione reopened the book that had been floating in front of her. _Death and his Dementors_. The tome was actually a compilations of stories surrounding Death and Dementors. It also included 'The Tale of the Three Brothers' in where Death created the Deathly Hallows during the thirteenth century. It had been dismissed as just another fairy tale by most, even by Albus Dumbledore, but Hermione had her own suspicions. Most fairy tales had some truth in them. This would be no different.

One particularly interesting tale in the book told a story dating thousands of years ago, before the Wizarding World was even established. The story spoke about how several thousand Dementors were in one place at one time. It was unknown as to why the Dementors converged on this particular area, but the dark entities continued to slowly coalesce into one space. Years passed with nothing being able to go near the area for miles. Nothing in the area grew, even animals that came close dropped dead after a few steps. When the mass of Dementors finally disappeared, it appeared.

_Death_.

The book insinuated how Death could possibly be some type of Dementor. It was unheard of, but after over a decade of spells, theories and knowledge, nothing was impossible to a degree. It was laughable how Hermione could believe that a being such as Death could even possibly exist. In retrospect, Kelpies, Unicorns, Phoenixes and Dragons existed, why not Death? It was another mental note on the brunettes 'To-Do-List', but it would be hard to accomplish. She had spent approximately fifteen years here with over thirty years of work done since she had no need for sleep and food. She had no need for a toilet either, which was kind of awesome.

The lone witch closed the book after a few moments of nostalgia. Things were never going to be the same. The spell she had prepared for the Time-Turner could literally unravel time. She could end up like Eloise Mintumble and age over fifteen years since time froze or end up aged to death. She estimated she'd be around her late thirties if it did occur. It was slightly amusing that the smartest witch of her age would be stuck in time for close to two decades.

Didn't that only happen to reckless people? Apparently, she was gaining attributes from Ron and Harry.

She did not think it would have taken this long, but there was no going back. There was no unlearning the knowledge that she had gained throughout her excursion. The stillness of the world had already gnawed at her mental strength, what was left of it wasn't much.

The brunette thought of the last words she had heard uttered towards her.

_"This is no place for your ideals. You won't change anything."_

The statement had been true at the time. A muggle-born with no family left and barely any close friends. A little girl with no authority, large sum of money or blood purity to throw around. The only thing she had back then was her love for books and her drive for excellence. Her love for knowledge granted her more spells in her arsenal, more strategies against enemies and more ways to survive. It was obvious why Dumbledore wanted her as a babysitter for Harry. It was a wise decision, but her finding out his machinations was probably not in any of his calculations. If it was, then the old man severely miscalculated.

What had changed though?

The only thing she had done during these frozen years was going over old tomes and trashy reports. Hermione smiled. She thought it was a smile since she had not made that expression for a while now.

Both hands glittered with arcs of dark, light and elemental energy augmented by her artifacts. She did not want to be arrogant, but she doubted even Albus Dumbledore and Voldemort could match her now. The two powerful wizards would most likely taunt and brag to each other before firing a spell anyway. It would also be one spell at a time. Being wandless made multiple spells possible.

What changed?

She levitated the broken Time-Turner with one hand.

Everything changed.

_I've changed._

Focusing the magical energy through her new trinkets, she let the magic gather at the edge of her finger while laying out a complex magical algorithm in her mind.

All the research boiled down to this one moment. The activated trinkets hummed with even more power than before, the outline of a magical seal began to project outwards and the witch knew that it was ready.

_It's time._

"Restitue Tempus Maxima!"

* * *

Restitue Tempus Maxima - Restore Time Maximum

The spell sounds simple, but the output of the spell depends on the efficiency of the Time Turner, the amount of magic being placed in the spell and also luck.

((Eff + Mag)^2/(Luck+1))

Yes, there's a formula! Engr classes are killing me.

**AN:** Thank you for the feedback! I hope that all of you will enjoy this one too.

Don't forget to wish Hermione luck with her spell!

Questions, comments, constructive criticism and suggestions are always appreciated!


	4. Awry Apparition

**Concurrent Existences**

Chapter Four: Awry Apparition

* * *

_Heat felt, free from frost._

_All is well, but still lost._

_Fearful figure, have you come to hate?_

_If so, then you are a little too late._

* * *

_It's time._

"Restitue Tempus Maxima!"

* * *

Darkness. How cliché. Hermione tried to open her eyes, but all she could see was darkness. Somehow she could feel all her limbs still together thankfully. She wondered if the spell had failed and she somehow died. The small rock poking her back begged to differ.

Maybe it was fine if everything just ended. The fifteen years spent in the time limbo had sapped most of her exuberance. It was great that she had learned so much, but it was also draining to learn _too much._

_Is there still a point?_ What was she still living for anyway?

_Early signs of depression._ A bit late for that though.

"Excuse me, could you move out from under the sheet?" A small girl's voice. It was music to her ears having not heard a single sound other than her own for years.

_No wonder it was dark._

Hermione plucked the black sheet that had been covering majority of her upper body and trained her eyes on the person she had heard. Her eyes landed on- _No._ Her eyes widened slightly. It can't be.

"Could I have the sheet back? I need it to start setting up a picnic." The innocence in the voice was heartrending. Hermione was not stupid, the blonde and blue eyes were a giveaway no matter how young.

Her spell had _failed_ , and that was putting it lightly. Hogwarts anti-Apparition wards most likely caused her displacement to this area since her room was probably still warded in this time period.

_Bollocks_. _Didn't think about that one._

Huh, refugee. No place to stay.

Hermione passed the sheet back to the girl and laid back down on the grass. It had been a long time since she had felt the warmth of the sun and the wind blowing around her. The sounds of life was one of the things she had sorely missed. The little things in life could only truly be appreciated when lost. The brunette took a gander around and knew that she was right by Black Lake.

"Cissy!" _Oh no._ Before Hermione could even Apparate away, two more girls entered the area. Twins. The two girls looked like twins except one had black hair and the other had brown.

Her thoughts darkened after a familiar tingle came across the scar on her arm. The scar _never_ faded. She assumed that the dark witch that etched 'mudblood' on her arm used a cursed knife since _no one_ could heal it. In front of her was none other than _Bellatrix Lestrange._

"How many times have I told you not to run?" The future dark witch chided her younger sister, but expression only held a caring look. These girls were a far cry from their future selves. Still, she wondered if she could hex the dark witch. Would it weaken Voldemort in the future? She shook her head, it would most likely just create some time paradox that would bite her in the arse.

It seems like everything has been biting her arse so far.

The brown haired witch identical to Bellatrix saw that there was one other person in their midst. "Who are you?" The young Andromeda Tonks eyed her with slight suspicion. Hermione was glad that she still donned her black robes from when was taken from Hogwarts by those Aurors else it would have been more suspicious. Andromeda had the right to be suspicious after all, since her face would not have been a familiar one. She didn't look like a first year either, so she couldn't say she was new.

The eldest sister's eyes turned to her. The intensity in those eyes had almost been the same as her future self, but it lacked hatred and disgust. Bellatrix Lestrange, the caring big sister. Who knew? The temptation to hex this Bellatrix lessened slightly.

" _Well_? Answer Andy's question." Bellatrix's voice was a far cry from what it had been in the future. Years in Azkaban and dark events would do that to a person. There was not much she could do at the moment until she could figure out a spell to fix the Time-Turner. At least time was actually moving this time.

The brunette knew she should have just disappeared, but she didn't. She didn't know why either.

"Hermione." There seemed to be no harm in giving a name that would be forgotten. A simple Obliviate would be an easy fix as well. She had missed interaction with people anyway. Perhaps this would be fine.

Associating with the enemy, she wondered how Harry would react. She mused at the possibility, but didn't care too much, it had been so long ago that she last saw the boy-who-lived.

"Well, _Hermione_ , I'm Bellatrix. The look-a-like is Andromeda and that tiny one is Narcissa."

"Hey-" Narcissa tried to cut in, but Bellatrix gave her the 'keep quiet' look.

"In all my years in Hogwarts, I have never seen you and I'm in my seventh year." Bellatrix had asked the right questions and straight to the point. The future dark witch was still fear inducing. If Hermione's true age had not been over thirty or if she had not gone through a war, she might have been intimidated. She did not want to say much that would implicate her or cause her trouble. If the headmistress or ex-headmaster caught wind of her, well, it would not be good.

"I'll tell you alone and after you share some of that food with me." A compromise. It would be much easier to get Bellatrix alone to gather some information about this time. Seeing the dark witch sparked an interesting thought in her. The fact that the eldest Black did not even ask her last name meant a lot. It seemed as if blood purity was not even a thought. She would have asked what her last name was if it was the case.

Bellatrix was willing to accept the compromise. Making a scene in front of her sisters would not be prudent. She knew Bellatrix was thinking something along the lines of 'If the mystery girl did have intentions to harm them, she would have already done it'. Patience won out and Bellatrix nodded to Narcissa to begin bringing items out of her bottomless handbag.

_Huh._ Looks like her idea wasn't so original after all.

All four of the girls enjoyed the quiet afternoon. Hermione was nearly brought to tears when she saw the sun setting. Her first sunset in over a decade and right in her view was the young Bellatrix. Her mind began to wander and space out. The bright witch realized she was getting sleepy, she had almost forgotten what that felt like. Before long, Bellatrix sent both of her sisters back to Hogwarts. Smiles and small waves were given to Hermione as the two younger siblings began to walk back.

"Talk." As patient as ever.

"I can't tell you everything, but if you keep my presence a secret, I'll make it worth your while." Hermione conjured a small fire that split and began to spin in her hand. She knew the look in Bellatrix's eye. The brunette had the same look each time there had been something new to learn _._ It would be ironic that she would be bribing and teaching her own torturess wandless spells.

"A bribe? What makes you think I won't just learn your spells and then tell the headmaster?" Bellatrix grinned widely. It was not the insane grin she had as a Death Eater, but an endearing one with a dash of arrogance. Hermione wanted to pinch her cheek. How could her torturer be so cute? The world was crazy. Maybe she was crazy? Cute torturess. Merlin.

"You don't look like the type that would tattle on me?"

"Oh really? What type do I look like then?" Bellatrix replied with a challenging tone.

"The type that doesn't care for authority figures. The type that does what she wants. The type that becomes eternally loyal and the type that would die for her loyalty." Bellatrix looked stunned. It looked like she had struck too close to home for a random guess.

Hermione smiled. The dark witch cared little for authority figures. She took whatever she wanted when she wanted it. She had been eternally loyal to Voldemort no matter how stupid it was. She had also died for Voldemort. The thought that had come to Hermione earlier came back. What if it she could change things?

Truthfully, Hermione had no plans to alter the timeline in any way, but maybe a few modifications wouldn't hurt too much. The brunette knew about the Butterfly Effect, but dismissed it. Who's to say what she's going to do already actually happened? Time is a confusing concept, but Hermione believed that she had the edge over it. Everything would go on as it would, but she could work behind the scenes. She always worked behind the scenes.

"Okay, I accept your _offer_."

"Meet me here whenever you want. I'll be around. Tell your sisters not to say anything as well. You're now my apprentice!" Hermione patted the girl on the head. It was surreal, so many plans were filtering into her head right now. The brightest witch of her age had all the time in the world. Her plan finally somewhat fleshed out.

Her plan finally had some sort of direction.

Bellatrix glared and lightly slapped the hand away. "You're not much older than me! Just because you know more spells and wandless magic, doesn't mean you're better! I'll prove it!" Bellatrix huffed.

It seemed as if the dark witch was near top of the food chain in Hogwarts right now. She was probably said to be the smartest witch of her age as well _._

"Tomorrow!" Bellatrix swiftly walked away as she realized the professors might start roaming the corridors. No one liked detention.

Hermione's eyes was glued to the retreating figure. The dark witch had a nice backside. She shook her head. Crazy indeed.

She leaned on the tree while watching the dark witch slowly disappear. The stars out shining were so pretty. How long had it been since she'd seen the twinkling of the stars? Too long.

_Maybe sleeping out under the stars won't be so bad._

* * *

_Ugh._

It was bad. Hermione could feel a crick in her neck. She should have conjured a pillow at least, but her first night of sleep had just been so inviting.

Before anything else, the brunette went over a few diagnostic spells to check her body. Everything had been the same until she got to the final spell.

"Age Revelare." The same numbers from around a decade and a half ago appeared. There was a slight change though, It had moved one whole second.

_Well, shite._

She was still stuck in some weird suspended animation state even after she was able to sleep. Had she found the answer to immortality? A random spell shot at a defective Time-Turner? This is all Ron's fault. Those three blows weren't close to enough for all this trouble!

Hermione pressed her fingers on her temples. A fifteen year migraine in the making finally hit.

A few weeks of spell theory, Arithmancy and testing should be enough for her to accurately move forward in time until she reached her present time. Her own time should normalize by then. Hopefully.

The witch sat up with her back to the tree. She fiddled with the collar of her robes bringing out and gazing at the Time-Turner. It was eroding. It seemed that either it was decaying because of spells being cast directly on it or it aged depending on the amount of time moved whether backward or forward. She was not that worried since Eloise Mintumble had gone back four hundred years. The circumstance may have been different, but she believed that she had a few more uses before she would be stuck.

A month at the most and she would be able to go forward.

* * *

Three months passed.

Hermione had not planned on staying this long. She was not even planning to stay for the month! Her calculations were all done, but she could not leave the dark witch alone. She still stayed by Black Lake apparating from a small abandoned hut close by.

"You are horrid at this game." Bellatrix giggled as she took the pouting brunette's king. At one point in time it would be an impossibility to consider anything other than an insane cackle coming out from her mouth. Hermione was amazed at everything she learned from and about the dark witch.

These three months have been golden. Hermione had not truly enjoyed another person's company since Luna and Ginny, and here she was wasting time playing Wizard's Chess.

Wizard's Chess.

She _hated_ Wizard's Chess with a passion.

"How is your wandless Patronus charm?" Hermione huffed, trying to be indifferent about the loss. One day she would win. Bellatrix laughed at the obvious attempt to change the subject. Hermione had given Bellatrix the armlet that she could not wear. It also helped that Bellatrix's wand had used the exact same type of core she had, Dragon Heart String. With a swish of Bellatrix's wrist an ethereal raven burst out an circled around Hermione.

The brunette still kept the other earring and ring hidden since using more than one alternate foci wouldn't be prudent. The power output of all three artifacts might be detected as well since Bellatrix's core seemed more powerful than the regular person's magical core.

Over the course of three months, Hermione had been teaching Bellatrix any important spells she could think of. The brunette avoided the larger area of effect spells since she did not want to be discovered.

She wondered from time to time if this was the reason why Bellatrix was one of the best duelists in the world. She had also taught Andy and Cissy one or two spells, but every day was spent with Bellatrix without fail.

It was why she couldn't bring herself to leave. She was actually enjoying _not_ reading a book while spending time with Bellatrix. The brunette had already accepted that a good part of her sanity had eroded, but who cares? The witch realized she spent too much of her life caring about what others, what the world would think, but in the end, none of it mattered.

The ethereal raven perched onto Hermione's shoulder and began to lightly peck her earlobe. Hermione was not one to lose teasing and sent her otter Patronus to start squirming around the dark haired girl's leg. Both laughed and smiled while casting other harmless spells without wands.

Hermione felt her age again, before all the chaos, before all the problems and drama, before the war and before being alone for over fifteen years. She could not even remember the last time she laughed like this with Ginny or Luna. A time before the war maybe.

A long time ago.

Bellatrix crawled closer to Hermione while the otter and the raven Patronus began playing with each other. The two had gotten close so fast that neither knew what prompted it. The snarky, arrogant, sarcastic pureblood seemed to worm her way through Hermione's defenses. The studious bookworm seemed to have done the same.

_So ironic._

The last time she was this close with Bellatrix, the dark witch had been sticking a cursed knife in and out of her arm. The brunette slightly tensed. Was this really happening?

Bellatrix's strong and confident gaze kept Hermione enthralled as she leaned in slowly giving Hermione an ample chance to back away.

_Crazy._

All the muggle-born did was place her palm on Bellatrix's cheek and give into the kiss.

What a kiss it was.

The few kisses shared with Viktor and the one kiss with Ron was nothing compared to this. She did not even know who slipped the tongue in first, but it was _divine_. The passionate kiss was finally cut when Hermione needed to take a breath. Both girls had dazed looks in their eyes.

"Merlin _."_ If these were the kind of kisses given to her, she might've spent a little less time with her books. The reminder of stubble hitting her chin and a rough hand on her cheek made her mentally gag.

_Eck._

Bellatrix recovered first and fell in love with the dazed look on Hermione's face. "If you had been around earlier in Hogwarts, maybe I'd have been less of a terror."

"Truly? You would have been a terror whether I'd have been there or not. The only difference is that you'd drag me on all your misadventures. And we had an audience!" Hermione laughed as she pointed to the two Patronuses. The otter was laying down looking at the while the raven was perched on its head. The amount of cuteness almost made Bellatrix squeal, but she still had to maintain some kind of reputation.

"True, true. You know me too well, luv."

"Luv? Is that a pet name, Bella?" Hermione slyly grinned at the dark witch and was happy to find an embarrassed blush dusting her pale cheeks. It was not every day that one could make Bellatrix blush.

"Laugh it up! But now, you're _my_ girlfriend. Cheat on me and die!" Bellatrix's tone had been jesting, but the brunette could tell the underlying possessiveness that Bellatrix innately had. Bellatrix was not one to share anything.

The two witches began practicing their magic for the rest of the day. A few kisses, hugs and subtle touches were shared throughout their practice.

This is what Hermione had been searching for. Funny that it had taken her all the way to the past just to find the companionship she was looking for.

Although, Hermione knew that time was not on her side this time. The time limit she promised herself was already broken. She still vowed not to disrupt the time stream as much as she could, but she couldn't and wouldn't give this up.

She wasn't sacrificing anything for the _greater good_ this time.

Her plan was fully fleshed out. She had a plan already created to _beat_ time. Bellatrix would forgive her when the time came.

Multitudes of plans all coming together with a true purpose, a true center.

_Bellatrix._

Some people would call her insane if they heard her plan. Everyone _would_ call her insane if they knew Bellatrix was the reason for the modified plans. Hermione really didn't care. The witch spent years caring for others, following others and getting nothing in return.

She knew Harry would have books created in his name that would go down in history and she would just be the mudblood follower that helped carried the bag. But, this wasn't Harry's story anymore.

_This is my story now._

Even though she vowed not to disrupt the time stream, she also vowed to get what she wanted. No one was going to manipulate her life anymore. Her plan was created, her plan would adapt. Her plan would work.

Bellatrix smiled before giving her a rough kiss and retreated back to the castle after a smirk and a wink. Who knew that one of the darkest witches in history would be the best thing that ever happened to the brunette.

_My plan will work._

_For me._

_For her._

_For us._

* * *

**AN:** Girls in love. Seems like both of them have a reason to truly exist now. I hope you like Bella's entrance even if it was a bit cliché. There's a reason I had to use this cliché and it will be seen in later chapters. See, there was a reason Romance was in the tag! I do hope it felt romantic enough, since this is my first time writing romantic stuff x.x I'm kind of a sap, sorry! I didn't really want to spend so much time explaining the first three months of poking each other either!

Looks like this is one of the reason why Bellatrix is such an awesome duelist, aside from the fact that she was already pretty awesome.

Thanks for the feedback and pms! I do hope everyone will enjoy this one even if it didn't have much action. If you spot any inconsistencies or big grammar errors, don't hesitate to tell me so I can try to fix them!

Questions, comments, constructive criticism and suggestions are always appreciated!


	5. Tsunamis

**Concurrent Existences**

Chapter Five: Tsunamis

* * *

_A lost feeling begins to burn._

_Guts wrenching, guts a churn._

_Irony thrown, here and there._

_Enjoying the past without a care._

* * *

_My plan will work._

_For me._

_For her._

_For us._

* * *

Four months passed.

Hermione had still not decided when to leave. The spell work was all done. All she required was a flick of the wrist and a bit of luck. She just could not bring herself to go forward with her plan just yet. Even if it slightly risked distorting the time stream. Merlin, she was not even sticking to her own word anymore.

_This would have much easier if she was the hateful bitch she was in the future._

Hermione's plan would only start when she actually left this time period, but leaving Bellatrix was one thing she could not bare to do yet. It also started to get slightly problematic when the dark witch began asking questions.

The brunette also needed to tell her that she was a muggle-born. The thought should not have been a problem, but her old fears of being discriminated against still lingered. She felt a phantom pain from the scar her beloved gave her as well.

"Bella. I have to be honest with you about something." Hermione held her breath. She was acting like an nineteen year old again when instead she was supposed to be somewhere around thirty-four mentally.

Bellatrix tilted her head in slight curiosity as she sat down in front of Hermione. They still met the same place everyday which was right by Black Lake. Students tended to avoid this area due to the fear of the giant squid grabbing them and eating them.

Hermione looked her girlfriend straight into her piercing dark eyes. Bellatrix abruptly started to sit up straighter when she realized the brunette had something serious to say. She held her breath just like the girl across her waiting for some possibly devastating news.

"I'm muggle-born." Silence.

Both witches let her breathes out.

"I know, luv." Bellatrix smiled at her girlfriend for a month. Her smile turned into a laugh as Hermione face was filled with confusion as to how she knew about her blood.

"One doesn't grow up in the most ancient House of Black without knowing all the existing pure-blood lines, dead or not. Besides, what kind of pure-blood name would _Granger_ be?" If it was any other pure-blood Hermione would have hexed them or punched in the face like Malfoy, but she knew her girlfriend meant it in a weird happy condescending way.

"I just thought you would be more..."

"Prejudiced? Don't worry, luv. My hexes are for everyone." Bellatrix then made a wand swish with her finger. Hermione had no way to counter the snowball that smack her straight in the face. The dark witch may have had the first strike, but she was not about to lose to a wandless magic duel to her apprentice.

_Apprentice._

Such irony still amused her. The battle was on.

* * *

Bellatrix had already run behind a tree for cover. The dark witch was not fooling herself that her girlfriend was going to go easy on her. She peered from her cover from behind the tree too see if the brunette was still in the area, nothing. At the last second, she sensed the use of magic from behind her and dove out of the way. Five snowballs had impacted where she was standing. She detected Hermione's magic signature, but could not pinpoint her.

"It's not nice to hit me in the face with a snowball, _luv._ " Hermione's disembodied voice carried on like an echo throughout the woods, but Bellatrix could tell they were on the same elevation.

"Ventus!" The dark witch swung her hand downward and released a blast of wind that sent leaves and dirt flying towards all directions. As soon as she cast the spell, she saw what she was looking for. A few leaves hit _solid air_.

_Gotcha._

"Stupefy!" The spell missed as the invisible Hermione was out of the way before the spell could close in. Bellatrix cursed and ran to the nearest tree to hide from any counter attack.

"Using a Bedazzling Hex to make yourself invisible? Really Hermione?" Her girlfriend had not taught her the Stealth Sensoring Spell. The brunette was such a cheater sometimes _._ All Bellatrix could hear was another disembodied laugh. It looks like her _luv_ was not going to make it easy for her.

"Fumos." Smoke started pouring out of Bellatrix's hands. Both girls were deep enough in the forest beside Black Lake that the dark gray smoke would not be detected. Bellatrix now had time to cast her human detection spell. She would have used it earlier, but needed time to focus and concentrate. The Stealth Sensoring Spell would have been much easier to cast. She was not yet as good as her brunette girlfriend unfortunately.

"Homenum Revelio." It also irritated her that Hermione never needed to use words for her spells anymore. Non-verbal and wandless magic.

_Such a cheat._

A moment of sensing and done. Now, she couldn't hide anymore.

* * *

Hermione knew her trick was up.

Their duels were always interesting if a bit random. "Did you like both Bedazzling Hex and Chameleon Charm combined? Good counter move with wind though. Let's finish this." The witch waved her hand and dispersed all the smoke conjured by her dark witch. She was really proud of the advancement of Bellatrix, not even she learned at this rate.

Bellatrix took a step out from her hiding place. The two witches stood around ten meters from each other with grins plastered on their faces and hands by their waists. The muggle-born told Bellatrix one or two stories about the Wild West, cowboys in particular and how they the duel. It was humorous that the pure-blooded witch was doing something so muggle-ish. Both reacted at the same time they heard a bird call.

Both hands were being waved into the air quickly drawing various symbols. One hand for slinging a quick non-verbal spell while the other continuously casted Protego and parried other spells. Hermione might have known more spells, but that did not mean she was a better duelist than Bellatrix who fought students on a daily basis. The war hero might have had some experience from the war, but that did not all translate to dueling experience.

Bellatrix only had one artifact, but Hermione was playing on the same level. The single artifact would maintain the Protego while they would be free to cast the spells they wanted.

Over five minutes had passed. Both witches held their ground, barely moving an inch. The concept of this kind of training duel was to toughen them up when there was no way to fully dodge spells. Increasing stamina and endurance was always a good thing aside from learning to shield and parry offensive spells.

Hermione took a risk and cast two offensive spells with both hands, but both spells were quickly absorbed into the Protego shield when Bellatrix caused the shield to widen for a split second. The grinning dark witch did not miss the opportunity.

"Flipendo!" She could not help but shout out the spell as hit Hermione and tossed her backwards on the ground. Bellatrix looked smug until her girlfriend still was not moving. The smug look fell as she rushed to the brunette witch. She knelt down by Hermione and saw her lips trying to say something. Was it some kind of last message or something? Hermione's eyes snapped open the same time Bellatrix froze and fell backwards to the ground.

"I said Petrificus Totalus, Miss Black." The smartest witch of her age stood up and dusted herself off. As soon as she finished, she went over and straddled Bellatrix's frozen hips. She could see the anger in her dark girlfriend's eyes, " _cheater",_ was all she could read. Such a cute thing.

"I kind of like you like this." Hermione pecked the side of her lips. "Under me, I mean, not frozen." Hermione giggled as she pressed another kiss by the frozen witch's neck. "How does it feel to have a muggle-born on top?" She unbuttoned the dark witch's collar and placed a kiss on the middle of her chest. Hermione teased her frozen witch a bit more before undoing the spell. The reversal of positions when the dark witch was older was just terribly ironic. Having so many years to get over something apparently does help.

The dark witch did not hesitate taking revenge right after. Not that Hermione was complaining. She wondered what her friends and family would think if they saw her now. It didn't really matter though.

She was happy.

* * *

Five months passed.

It had been five whole months since Hermione arrived in this time period. After a few seemingly innocent questions and deduction of the sisters age, she had already concluded that it was the year 1968. It was nearly thirty years back in time. She wasn't exactly sure if it actually had any connection to the amount of time she spent in the time limbo.

Her spell had gotten her thirty years into the past spending approximately fifteen years in a time limbo. She was not entirely sure if the numbers meant anything or if it was based on how much magic she used, but no one had really traversed time properly. No one that survived to tell their tale at least.

The brunette had learned that Bellatrix was indeed the smartest witch of her age. In the past five months, she had _never_ seen Bellatrix open one single book and apparently Bellatrix had O's in all twelve of her N.E.W.T.s. Hermione only had ten since she had dropped out of Muggle Studies and Divination. She somehow knew that Sybill Trelawney was laughing at her.

The not-yet-Death-Eater was actually smarter than her, but never actually applied herself or cared too much about her studies. Everything Hermione taught her had been absorbed like a sponge. One demonstration of the spell had always been enough for Bellatrix to duplicate it. The dark witch did not even learn the theory behind the spells before replicating it! No wonder the woman was the right hand of Voldemort. She was probably better than Voldemort if she was still sane at the time. The unwavering loyalty Bellatrix had to Voldemort was the only thing actually keeping her on a leash. She wondered if Bellatrix had been manipulated the same way she had been with Compulsion Charms.

_Highly possible._

Hermione still could not figure out what had happened to her girlfriend in the future. How the dark witch actually got so... dark. The tales the three Black sisters told her were of a slightly strict, but loving father and a quiet, but supportive mother. Where did everything go wrong? Was Voldemort just the root cause of everything?

Hermione sometimes wished that she could have been sent a few more years into the future to when the catalyst for Bellatrix's change arose. She immediately shook her head when she realized she wouldn't have ever met her dark haired witch at this state if it did. A swift temptation to use the Time-Turner also hit, but she that would further erode her already declining Time-Turner.

A year was the most Hermione could stay before she would be too attached to this time period. She was already attached to the three sisters, especially to Bellatrix, but staying any longer would further the chance of disrupting time. More than what she already disrupted anyway.

Hermione gasped as someone poked her side. She was ticklish, damn it! The brunette nearly tumbled over and fell into the water if she did not use a Hover Charm by instinct.

"What on earth are you doing on top of the giant squid?" Bellatrix was riding her broom, hovering over her with her head tilted a bit.

The brunette was slightly bored that day when she saw the giant squid near the surface of Black Lake. Long story short, she and the giant cephalopod were now friends. Hermione then spent the rest of the day laying down the squid's head, it did not seem like it minded anyway. It was probably starved for company with everybody being afraid of it.

"Well, I was bored and Tenty seemed lonely."

* * *

"Tenty? Merlin. Did you _name_ it?" Only her girlfriend would try to domesticate and make friends with a giant squid. Hermione would probably befriend that half-giant living near Hogwarts too.

_Little witch has way too much time on her hands._

Bellatrix knew her girlfriend still hid so much facts from her, but they've been getting to know each other for months. The eldest Black sister believed and trusted Hermione. The brunette was _almost_ as smart as her, so she knew not to pry.

"He didn't seem to mind. Come, sweetie." Hermione patted her side. It looked dry enough aside from a bit of slime on the side. Bellatrix Black would not be caught in _slime._

_Nasty._

"Two months as girlfriends and you decide to call me _sweetie?_ Bloody hell. _Sweetie and Tenty_. I'll stay on my broom, thank you very much." Bellatrix chided her. She was not against the pet name, but she would die if ever Hermione called her that in front of anyone. They needed better pet names. Her brunette witch more than her.

_Tenty,_ who names anyone _Tenty_?!

Hermione just laughed at the quip. The raven haired witch knew her girlfriend was not going to un-name the beast. It seemed that _Tenty_ would indeed stick. How could anyone find a giant slimy squid cute? The giant cephalopod trained it's eyes on Bellatrix. Was it- Was it trying _puppy dog eyes?_

Hermione began to wonder out loud if there was a way to communicate with the giant squid. The giant squid seemed have a degree of intelligence, but it was always a one-way communication. Her girlfriend continued to ponder if Legilimency would work. _Hah!_ It looked like her smart witch did not know Legilimency, well that's something to start working on.

Bellatrix continued to hover on her broom while Hermione enjoyed laying down on the soft squid. The two just continued to converse for the rest of the day instead of practicing magic or dueling. Apparently, Bellatrix had been skipping classes, that is why she was so early from time to time. She mentioned how many of the professors did not care since she had already done everything required in her classes.

At one point the black haired witch nearly fell into the lake after nearly dozing off.

Luckily, she had fell on top of Hermione.

Unluckily, her hand had hit the slimy part of the squid.

_Eck!_ _Blasted_ _squid!_

Hermione began to laugh as Bellatrix scowled, but the scowl did not last as she swiped the slime on Hermione's robes. The indignation the brunette felt was justified and pushed her soon-to-be-ex-girlfriend into the water. Sadly for Hermione, Bellatrix grabbed an ankle, making them both plunge into the water.

Their laughter started as they emerged from the surface of the water. Both witches continued to play and splash water at each other. Bellatrix was pretty sure she was winning, well, until _Tenty_ wanted to play.

"Luv, I think your pet wants to-"

_Bloody hell._

_Tsunami._

* * *

Spells used are mainly taken from HP lore and a few others are translated from Latin.

Ventus - Strong blast of wind.

Flipendo - Pushes target, knocks out weaker ones.

Fumos - Smokescreen

Homenum Revelio - Human Presence Revealing Spell, slower than Stealth Sensoring Spell.

**AN:** Thank you for the feedback! Hermione is still enjoying a bit of time with Bella, so I do hope you enjoy it too!

Hermione knows she has to leave soon anyway. I also wonder what her plan will be? Taking Bella with her, that would probably blow up the future. Not really sure how much she cares anymore though. Hermione knows too much, I don't even know how her mind functions anymore. x.x

I sometimes swap focus from character to character, does it work out? Hope it isn't confusing people.

This is also the first time I've written a real battle down. Hope it wasn't too bad either.

Just realized the chapter is a bit shorter, sorry! As always, don't hesitate to tell me if there are major grammar errors so I can try and change them.

Questions, comments, constructive criticism and suggestions are always appreciated!


	6. Black Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bella has a not so good day, but still gets her sweetdreams.

**Concurrent Existences**

Chapter Six: Black Day

* * *

_Sometimes things just need a bit of luck._

_But Bellatrix Black doesn't give a fuck._

_A hex and a jinx, she doesn't care._

_In love and war, all is fair._

* * *

_Bloody hell._

_Tsunami._

* * *

The mini tsunami caused by the giant squid created quite a stir. Dumbledore along with a few other professors had immediately went towards the large disturbance at Black Lake. The only ones left there was a soggy Bellatrix and a tentacle that had just slipped under the water.

_Well, shite._

Her _girlfriend_ had apparently ditched her leaving her to explain whatever happened.

_Bloody Tenty!_

Bellatrix knew that her girlfriend had something to from the professors, but still!

The other professors aside from Dumbledore, McGonagall and Slughorn left after it was deemed safe. Bellatrix had caught Dumbledore looking towards the forest where her girlfriend usually disappeared to. A slight twinge of fear that Hermione would be discovered went up her spine, but the headmaster just shook his head and offered her a piece of taffy.

"Miss Black. Eating candy is like following the light. It's for the greater good." What the bloody hell did that even mean?! She knew the headmaster had a few screws loose. She wasn't going near any of that candy that was probably laced with something.

Once she had declined, Dumbledore gave one last smile and went off to probably gorge on sweets. McGonagall on the other hand wanted the whole story. Bellatrix disliked the elder witch the most out of all the professors. This was one of the professors that actually gave her detention for skipping class and not submitting homework. She already aced all her tests, what more did the hag want?

"The squid stole my pie." It was not one of her best lies. Bellatrix was cold, slightly hungry and pissed that her girlfriend had ditched her. Making up wondrous believable lies wasn't on her to-do list at the moment.

"So, the squid went to the surface to take your pie. As it rose to take your pie, it created the large wave? Are you serious, Miss Black?" McGonagall's eyes bore into her own, but she was not about to cower. Bellatrix Black did not cower in front of _anyone._ A pissed Hermione is a different story though, especially when you _accidentally_ tear a page from her books.

"Yes, professor. It took my pie. Can I go now?" _Cold, Hungry._ This is all her girlfriends fault. Bloody brunette playing with _Tenty_! Bellatrix wanted to get angry, but thinking about the situation wanted to make her laugh as well. Sadly, the slight grin was caught by McGonagall.

"You think this is amusing? Ten points from Slytherin for being out at this time. Ten more points from Slytherin due to not submitting your homework and one hour of detention for skipping class. Good day, Miss Black." McGonagall left before Bellatrix could utter anything. _Bitch!_ We'll see how her Gryffindors react after they suffer her wrath. She had been laying off on terrorizing the Hogwarts population in exchange for time with her witch, but maybe she should catch up with the courageous Gryffindors.

"Miss Black." Bellatrix sighed and looked to the side. She was on okay terms with Professor Slughorn, but not while she was sopping wet. If he eyed one part of her body by mistake, she would send a jinx straight to his face, professor or not.

"Yes, Professor Slughorn?" The exasperation in her voice could not be contained. She was sure Hermione was laughing at this somehow. Either that or she already conjured a hot bath all to herself.

"Did you by chance get some ink from the squid? Or some slime maybe?" Slughorn's voice was so hopeful that it just pissed her off all the more. She probably had some slime in her _bloody_ knickers and some ink up her nose.

"Goodnight, Professor."

_Must not kill._

* * *

Bellatrix continued to grumble to herself while walking back to the Slytherin Dungeons. She casted a wandless Hot-Air Charm to dry herself off, but that did not take away the feeling of being dirty and the _slime._

A shower, some food and some sleep. Perfect plan.

The person that suddenly popped out right before she got to the common room, was not part of the plan. Merlin, this wasn't her day at all. Pests everywhere.

"Well, well, well. Look who it is." The new comer with dark hair leaned against the wall just before the entrance to the dungeons. The boy was attempting to look suave, but all Bellatrix saw was a _bug_. Big slimy bug. Ignoring the boy, she went on her way to do her business, when a hand reached out before she could pass.

_Scum!_

_No_ _one_ touched her without her permission! Especially not _bugs_!

"Sod off, Rodolphus!" A hard shove towards Rodolphus made him loosen his grip and hit the wall. The dark haired seventh year was able to grasp the wall before he fully rolled on the ground. He stood up quickly as if nothing happened at all. The idiot quickly tried to fix his hair too.

"Is that the way to treat your future husband?" The comment made Bellatrix turn around. The hatred in her eyes palpable, but Rodolphus was as dense as he was dumb. All his eyes zeroed in on was the dark witch's chest where her robes still clung onto despite being dried off.

Bellatrix whipped out her wand. Her wandless magic would have to be a secret for a while. "Run along before I set you on fire. Rabastan still has the burns right? From when he asked if you could _share_?" No one fucked with Bellatrix Black, but so many idiots still tried! _Bloody hell!_ She cursed, jinxed and burned, but they always come back for more!

_Bloody_ _masochists_!

"Don't worry my love, you're going to be all mine." His eyebrows wagged.

_His eyebrows wagged._

"INCENDIO!" Bellatrix hoped those infernal brows were burnt at least. She was afraid the twitch on her eye would become permanent. And mother was wondering why I did not have any boyfriends.

_This is bloody why._

"Even if we are married! You'll be married to your own hand! You dipshit!" And that was the truth. Rodolphus was gone. She wasn't sure if he heard her, but wondered what part of his body she actually struck. _Fuck_ consummating marriage. She'd kill herself first or turn blood traitor and run away with Hermione before any _bugs_ got into her bed.

Shower, food and sleep. Perfect plan.

* * *

The hot bath felt so good especially when Bellatrix had the area all to herself. All the usual annoyances were all probably done with showering or getting ready to sleep. The seventh year female bath area was also pretty widely spaced so Bellatrix could relax all she wanted.

_Too bad Hermione isn't here._

After a bit of scrubbing and washing, the dark witch sighed in relief as she soaked in the warm water of the bath. It was surprising how much things could change in just five short months. Bellatrix never actually saw herself in a relationship anytime soon, but here it is.

She could see them doing so many great things for years to come. Both witches would do everything together. Tackle the world. The world would be their playground.

Bellatrix could really see it and for once in her life she was actually content. Now there were just three problems left.

One was getting Hermione to open up more. She was getting close to that though.

Second was shoving the arranged marriage up Rodolphus' arse. Her parents were about to budge from that.

Finally, third was getting rid of the new mentor her parents were getting for her. Bellatrix didn't need a _bloody_ mentor even if he was young and the epitome of blood purity. She already had her little witch and she wasn't losing her little witch for another few decades at least. Hermione has no choice in it either!

_I already have everything I need._

* * *

Bellatrix felt refreshed. A hot shower without anyone bothering her was just what she needed. She dried herself off and donned her robes before heading back. She begun to further dry her hair while heading towards the seventh year female dormitories when she spied a white rat. _Malfoy._

_Is there no end to this lunacy!?_

The white rat was slinking around the end of the hall. She detested the lanky fourteen year old since he kept perving on her little sister, Narcissa. Bellatrix was going to ignore him until she heard loud giggling at the direction the rat was looking at. Bellatrix's eyes twitched.

The voice was obviously from Narcissa. Blood purity or not, she would not let a rat get close to her baby sister! A few particularly nasty spells crossed the dark witch's mind, but knew she could not make it too severe. Another few hours of detention would mean less time with her pretty muggle-born. Merlin and Morgana, when did she turn into a sap?

Spell in mind, she began to walk towards Lucius. The dark witch took out her wand and poked Lucius from behind. The fear and surprise in his eyes and expression were so sweet.

"Bella " All that was left was a small white mouse.

"Aww, itty bitty mousy all lost?" Bellatrix took the mouse up by its tail and glared right at it. She continued to debate on what to do with the mouse. Setting it on fire would be too extreme. Flushing it down the toilet... Tempting. The mouse continued to struggle until it was able to nip her hand while she was thinking on the perfect form of torture.

"Shite! Bloody mouse!" The mouse bit her! Bellatrix nearly crushed the mouse as it fled. The nip barely bled, but it still hurt. Bella was about to pursue the infernal mouse when Narcissa called out to her.

Narcissa grinned, but cocked her head sideways when she saw her sister's darkened expression of anger with a touch of murder. "Bella, you okay?" Narcissa asked innocently. The dark witch cursed again as she realized her quarry got away. _Shite!_ She vowed her vengeance! No matter how irrational it was, she didn't really care. Bellatrix Black didn't give two _fucks_. Damned rat bit her!

_I hope this isn't infected._

"It's nothing Cissy. Goodnight, watch out for rats by the way. I think Hogwarts is starting to have a bloody infestation." Hogwarts did have an infestation. Infestations of Rodolphus, Lucius and other annoying bugs. Maybe she should take up a job as an exterminator?

She began to trudge her way through towards her sleeping quarters. The dark haired witch did not want to encounter any more problems.

_Finally! Home free!_ The door towards her sleeping quarters were in sight. A fluffy pillow and soft bed were both in her reach! The only thing left in her way was the charmed dungeon door that required a password.

"Pureblood." Silence.

_Shite!_ Someone changed the password!

* * *

The soft bed was a godsend. After dealing with the bloody squid, the infernal rat, the annoying professor, the husband-to-kill and slamming her head on the door, it was time to sleep. She had enough of people today. Next person she saw would get their own wand up their arse.

Bellatrix begun to close her eyes. Eagerly awaiting for an incoming dream about Hermione or maybe burning her annoyances, but that did not happen. Instead, she felt her bed move. _What?_ There was something under her covers. Panic set in as someone had just breached the wards she placed over her bed. The witch was not sure whether to scream or cast a hex, but before she could a brunette head popped out.

"Boo!"

"Fuck me sideways! You're going to be the death of me!" The eldest black calmed down quickly as she realized something worse could have appeared. If it had been Rodolphus or Rabastan trying to pull some bullshit then she might need to try an Avada or two. Thank god one of the wards she placed was a Silencing Charm or the whole dorm room would have woken up.

"Luv, I thought you were hiding from the people at Hogwarts? Being in Hogwarts will not help your case at all. How the hell did you get here anyway?" The dark witch knew her girlfriend was magically gifted and everything, but sneaking into Hogwarts? She must have a death wish. Her brunette witch had still not explained why she was hiding from everyone one else. Bellatrix wanted to ask some days, but decided that she would speak of it when she was ready.

"Shush. Sleepy." The brunette was already curled up on her side. Bellatrix caught her sleepy brown eyes and just melted. There was nothing to do but let this adorable witch sleep. A few minutes later, Hermione was already fast asleep with her head in the crook of the dark witch's neck. Bellatrix had always hated acting out the more caring side of her emotions, but something about the witch cuddled up to her always made her express it. Her hand had already been stroking the brunette's hair before she knew it. Not like anyone else was going to witness this. Besides, she wouldn't leave any witnesses if they did see.

Bellatrix sighed as she closed her eyes. A content smile left on her face as her thoughts began to fade.

_Shite._

She was already in love with the muggle-born.

_My muggle-born._

* * *

**AN:** Thank you for the feedback as always! Hope you enjoyed this chapter even if the sole focus was Bellatrix. Hermione did have a small part at the end though!

Just wanted to further develop Bellatrix's character, to see what she was like when she was a bit younger. To see how things went wrong? Not much has been revealed anyway.

Hermione has made a decision! And she'll enact it in the next chapter. Will she go forward with her dark witch? Will she stay in this current time and leave caution to wind? Does she have another plan that I don't know about? (Always possible!) Heck, if Hermione screws up her spell and ends up in the Void then the story will be over too x.x

Well, see you next chapter!

Questions, comments, constructive criticism and suggestions are always appreciated!

**Edit:** Just got rid of a grammar error I found!


	7. Choosing a Path

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Painful decisions are made.

**Concurrent Existences**

Chapter Seven: Choosing a Path

* * *

_Time is up, the decision is made._

_I'll stay by you right under the shade._

_Close your eyes, I won't disappear._

_Rest well my love, have no fear._

* * *

_Shite._

_She was already in love with the muggle-born._

_My muggle-born._

* * *

Six months passed since Hermione's arrival.

It was another bright and shiny weekend where Hermione would be spending the rest of her day with the three Black sisters for a picnic by Black Lake. Once again the brunette was just waiting below one of the large trees by Black Lake under the shade enjoying the soft breeze and the warm sun.

The last six months were just so incredible that there was no other way to describe them. This time period, 1968, is when she was _supposed_ to be born. She was sure this is where she belonged, by Bellatrix's side.

Hermione lifted up here hand and began going through elemental magics. Voldemort would not be able to rise if she stayed. Tom Riddle would not know what hit him when two of the smartest and greatest witches of the age shot wandless spells into his face.

_Maybe that's why he lost his nose?_

If she did stay here, she would have to assume a new identity and hope that a time paradox didn't hit. Hermione began musing some more on possible things she could do when she heard the sharp giggle emanating from a running Narcissa.

"Morning, Hermione!" Narcissa quickly plopped down beside her after quickly placing a sheet under them. Narcissa was as bubbly and cute as ever. Now, she actually wished she had a sister. Hermione believed she would be able to preserve Narcissa's current personality rather than the cold, distant woman she had met into the future. She patted Narcissa on the head.

"Hey, Cissy." Her hand was immediately pushed away while the small blonde was struggling against being petted.

Soon after, Andromeda and Bellatrix came. Non-stop laughter and chatter was what the four girls were going through after passing random comments and stories around while eating the picnic that Andromeda had prepared. Even more laughter came when Tenty decided to swipe one or two sandwiches.

Bellatrix often glanced towards Hermione, giving a loving gaze, but not lingering long enough to be obvious. These moments were a treasure.

Andromeda had actually borrowed a camera from someone. Hermione assumed it was Ted Tonks, but didn't voice it out in case the middle sister didn't want it known. Bellatrix was unmovable at first, but with a little prodding, the other sisters grabbed her. Hermione volunteered to take the picture first.

Something was missing though, then it hit her. A loud laugh came out of Hermione as she told the sisters to wait while she got something.

_A white lily._

Hermione then placed the white lily on Bellatrix's ear. The white lily on Bellatrix's ear really did suit her. It was just like the photograph she had seen during the time limbo in Malfoy Manor.

It was the exact same picture that Narcissa had.

"Smile!"

_Smile._

* * *

All three sisters were asleep by the area they were having the picnic in. The bright day slowly had dark clouds trickling in as if indicating Hermione's shifting mood. It was a few hours in the afternoon and the brunette was sitting at the same spot where she had landed six months ago. Her back was to the tree trunk and had Bellatrix laying her head down on her lap. The dark haired witch fell asleep a few minutes ago and the brunette had no intention of changing that. She did not want heartfelt and tearful goodbyes because there would be no goodbye.

Hermione could've stayed another six months to complete a year, but decided that prolonging the inevitable was something she could not do anymore. Staying around Bellatrix had been the happiest few months in her life without question. Each time the dark witch smiled, laughed, grinned and blushed, Hermione counted it as a win.

Her plan would work. Bellatrix would not be in any pain from her disappearance aside from what time already had in store for her. If her plan failed and didn't work then both of them would disappear. She didn't care about her own life. Not really.

She wanted to spare her dark love the pain, but altering the time stream was just too much.

The smartest witch of her age fought long and hard against herself. One side of her wanted to change time. Change all the events from now until the future to ensure the happiness of her dark witch, but that was a gamble. Playing with the time stream was risky and Hermione never left anything to chance if there was an alternative or at least something with better chances of success. Leaving Bellatrix and her sisters to the time stream hurt her more than anything, but she had to be strong.

The one side of her continued to shout at her to stay. To brace everything with her love. To live in this age. To destroy Voldemort before he rose to power. To slap Dumbledore before he became so paranoid.

_My plan will work._

_It has to._

_It will._

Hermione brushed aside the dark curly bangs away from her dark witch's face. Pale, lovely and so adorable. A swift poke to the nose and the evil-to-be witch scrunched her face. Merlin, she was just too cute. How could this be the epitome of insanity and evil?! She could have spent forever holding her witch. To protect and guard her with her new found skills and power.

One last kiss to the forehead. One last cup of her cheek. One last brush of her hair.

_For now._

"Temporalis Claustrum Obliviate" This was the spell she needed for her parents, but had only discovered it after several months of research in the time limbo. This spell would be a temporary lock any memories she needed hidden away. It was hard, but this was the plan she had. Andromeda and Narcissa was also hit with the spell as she multi-casted it.

No one would be able to remember her.

Except Tenty.

The giant cephalopod seemed to know what she was planning. A lone tentacle was waving back and forth as if saying _'Good bye'_.

Tears gathered up as the content look on her dark witch faded to a grimace. The sky was cliché enough to slowly weep with her with a drizzle. She promised she wouldn't let out tears, but they just wouldn't stop.

The witch took the armlet she had given Bellatrix. No evidence could be left. The dark witch wouldn't be able to use it as any memories of her teachings would be locked away.

Hermione stood up and casted a quick Warming Charm and an Impervius Charm to protect Bellatrix and her sisters from the rain and anything else that may wander too close before they woke up.

The brunette looked at the sleeping sisters and took one last long look at her lovely witch before taking out the Time-Turner. She began to weave a complex symbol with her right hand while channeling the appropriate amount of magic.

"Protinam Tempus."

* * *

It was the safest route back to the present. The Time-Turner would not hold together much longer. Hermione could feel the magical energy inside it decline. Two or three more uses and the Time-Turner would just be metal, glass and sand.

Even if it was the safest route, it was a route that would hurt her so much. She had traveled forward fifteen years approximately. The wet newspaper in her hand had the exact year, 1983. It was a year after Bellatrix Lestrange was incarcerated into Azkaban for the torture of the Longbottoms.

It hurt.

It was an inevitable truth that it would happen. She had known this, but it was still painful. The brunette cursed, she could have changed time. She could have saved her from all this pain.

_I could have saved them all._

She could have destroyed time as well.

Azkaban was right in front of her. The island was not hard to get to once she had gotten the coordinates, patrol details and apparating paths from the Ministry during the time limbo. She'd been curious about Azkaban at the time.

Well, in all fairness she was curious about everything.

There was no time to be scared of the dark apparitions that existed within the walls of Azkaban. She had a mission to complete. It was necessary albeit selfish.

With all the spells in Hermione's arsenal and her trusty bottomless bag she brought along, she went forth into Azkaban.

* * *

Horrifying. It was one word she could describe Azkaban as a whole. Hermione had walked in with a mixture of charms cast on herself. Procedures detailing Azkaban security was a document she had already read back at the Ministry. There were very few guards around since the Ministry believed that employing Dementors was a good thing, they were _wrong._

Screams and pleas for the Dementors to stop was heard everywhere. Nothing was humane about Azkaban at all. This was the prison that the Ministry had been using since 1718? Horrific. Terrible. She doubted the prison was ever cleaned since it was created.

Back in the day when she was truly nineteen, she would have said that all criminals belonged in Azkaban. Not anymore. Not after seeing it for what it truly was. Not after seeing the hollow shells of these people, these humans. This isn't how humans should be treated. Nobody should be treated like this. She felt like she should care more, but she was surprisingly numb about it.

Dementors were not ethical. Employing Dementors would be something Voldemort would have done. She would need to further research on Dementors. There had to be further information on them as well.

Some reports she had seen in the present Ministry also had details on reinstalling the Dementors back in Azkaban. The Ministry released information that the Dementors were slowly being taken away from Azkaban, but the Ministry failed to release the information that the Dementors were slowly going to be sent back again.

Familiar faces were seen. Death Eaters that the brunette would fight in the future were right there in their dingy cells. Some were talking to themselves, others being mind-raped by Dementors while others just laid there, catatonic. A growing part of her mind said that they _deserved_ it. These people were part of the reason her childhood was manipulated. Part of the reason she was manipulated!

She finally reached the cell.

Thoughts stopped.

Tears trickled down.

Right in front of her was Bellatrix. _Her Bellatrix_. Still beautiful under all the rags and dirt, but broken. The dark witch was kneeling on the floor, blank eyes staring straight ahead.

 _My fault._ This was her fault. It could have all been prevented.

No. She could not return to that line of thought. She had her mission. She had her plan.

A quick modified Alohomora had the cell door's lock disabled. Before anyone saw something out of the ordinary, she entered and then closed it from behind her. She made no sound, but the obvious opening of the cell could have alerted others. The other inmates were too busy with their own despair to notice anything. Not even her beloved witch gave any notice to the door opening for a second.

Her beautiful witch still held her beauty even after fifteen years of getting older. The year she spent in Azkaban had done much damage though. Having Dementors for company would give that result.

_My poor witch._

Hermione knelt down to look into her beloved's haunted eyes. It took a few seconds, but Bellatrix finally noticed her. Rage, confusion, anger and surprise went through the dark witches expression. The chained witch was apparently extremely confused to how some random person got into her cell. She obviously did not look like a guard, but she had no idea who it could be. Being one of the most dangerous witches in Britain did not give a person much visitor privileges. Dementors were always free to visit though. The dark witch wanted to cackle, rage and attack, but she was just so tired.

"Who the _fuck_ are you?" She growled out with as much acid as she could, but Hermione just smiled. It looked like her witch still had some kick in her.

"Temporalis Recludam Obliviate." Hermione did not know how this next part would go. Restoring a person's memories fifteen years in the future after erasing them was not an experience she had. Although, with all her research on Obliviate charm, it might be possible to remove it from her parents. Using experimental spells on her Bellatrix.

What a great girlfriend she was.

A thought quickly crossed her mind.

"Suspencio Incantatores." A spell to suspend and freeze any possible spells that are ongoing on Bellatrix. The brunette just had a feeling that something else was affecting her dark witch.

* * *

Bellatrix's poisoned filled eyes turned sad and broken. She remembered the six months that had been removed from her memory. She remembered the love that she thought she never had. She remembered the happiest moments in her life.

She remembered those six months that could have _saved_ her.

She then remembered everything after. The pain, the murders, the tortures and all other atrocities she had committed. Bellatrix did not really care much about all the chaos she caused. She was still a dark witch no matter what, but there was still the twinge of guilt at any innocents she had caused harm to.

"Why, luv?" The broken voice asked Hermione. The brunette nearly cried at how heart wrenching it sounded. She could understand her beloved's pain though. Hermione could have stayed. Maybe Hermione could not have saved everything, but she could have saved Bellatrix. Tears started to gather in both their eyes. The use of her old pet name was just too much for both witches.

"Do you still trust me?" Bellatrix was not sure she heard right. Hermione was asking if she still trusted her? How could she still love or trust someone who technically abandoned her?

 _He must be obeyed... He will come back for me._ _Always trust the Dark Lord._

"I trust and believe in the Dark Lord." The passionate sound in Bellatrix's voice tore the brunette's heart apart. "It all makes sense now. Why you couldn't interact or be seen by others. Time magic." The dark witch stopped, she seemed to just run out of things to say for the moment.

"Why did you abandon me?" Everything was piecing itself together. Bellatrix's facial expression began to harden. She wanted to let the little witch in. To love her, to trust her again, but could she? After every blasted thing that happened in her life?

No wonder she had never loved anyone or fell in love with anyone, she was already in love with someone. All the memories just hidden away in her mind.

"You will have to trust me. I promise that everything will be okay. All I can tell you right now is that this is part of the original time stream. I chose not to interfere even if it broke my heart when I thought of what would happen to you." The brunette placed her palm on Bellatrix's cheek. The dark witch was planning to move away from it, but decided it was too taxing.

It was so warm.

_He must be obeyed... He will come back for me._

The bound witch knew there had always been something mysterious about Hermione, though being a time traveler was not one of them. Her emotions were all conflicting with each other now. How could she say that she still trusted and believed in Voldemort after her memories were restored? She couldn't betray her Lord either.

_He must be obeyed._

How had it actually come to this? She was never a hard pure-blood supremacist. It was like a fog had slowly cleared up when her memories were unlocked by Hermione. It was disorienting.

She felt like herself again. She could think again.

"You were the one light I had left. When you ceased to exist in my life, everything just started to crash down. The Dark Lord soon appeared and it just started to spiral out of control. I don't even know how it got to this point. You knew. You knew this was all going to happen to me and yet you just left me?" She did know that it was not Hermione's fault. Even if the brunette disappeared, the choices she made were still hers. She thought the choices were hers at the very least.

Hermione went closer and hugged her dark witch. She did not care if the witch was dirty from not showering, she just needed to convey physically how she still felt.

"I have a plan. You know I wouldn't have let this happen if there was any other way. I just couldn't take the risk of playing with Time magic. Please sweetie, trust me." Hermione used the last pet name that Bellatrix hated. The dark witch cringed at the term, but it still made her feel warm inside. The warm feeling was something she had forgot even existed over the long years of following the Dark Lord.

Bellatrix sighed. Her muggle-born witch did always act logically. Was it part of insanity that she could think so clearly and logically right now? Her mind knew that it was okay to full believe in her witch, but her heart still tried holding a grudge for being left alone, even if she did not remember it. It all felt worth it, having the warm feeling again.

"I trust you. When it comes to fruition, you better tell me everything. I can't believe I'm almost twice your age now." Bellatrix felt old now, a bit of a cradle robber too if they were still going to be together.

She also had a husband.

 _Shite._ She didn't touch the git, but it was still on paper.

 _I did warn that idiotic bug he'd be married to himself._ Some of her memories were still jumbled up. Probably because of Hermione's spell?

"I have a plan for everything. The reason why I came here is to learn Occlumency and Legilimency. This would have been the perfect time since there won't be anyone to disturb us." The conditions were not so good, but this was the best time to learn. Being in a cell in Azkaban would give them all of the privacy needed. The dark witch knew it wouldn't be prudent to escape as well. The Azkaban tattoo could not be tampered without being detected and would just paint her a prime target for the Dementors.

Bellatrix decided not to ask any more questions. She trusted her witch. Getting into Azkaban without detection just to learn Occlumency and Legilimency meant her love had little to no options left and needed it done quick.

The dark witch was chained down anyway, it would at least relieve her boredom.

"Okay, luv. Don't think this is over. Depending on your full explanation in the future, I might mark your muggle arse red. Make my shackles more comfortable." It was nice to remember all the wandless spells Hermione had taught her before, but did not want to risk her magic being detected. The wards in the cell block were attuned to detect the usage of magic by prisoners, not anyone else. The magic drain spell activated when it detected a prisoners magic wasn't fun either.

With the brunette's spells and preparation, she doubted anything would detect or surprise them.

* * *

Hermione smiled as she tried to make her dark witch more comfortable without being obvious. Legilimency and Occlumency were two things she really needed to work on. Being alone for over a decade in the limbo had its perks, but learning Legilimency and Occlumency without someone? Nope.

The slight smile on Bellatrix's face quickly morphed into horror when she spotted a growing black spot behind Hermione. There was no way she could cast a Patronus wandless without the armlet that Hermione had given her even if she had regained the ability to cast one.

The smartest witch of her age saw the look the dark witch gave her and concluded the obvious. There was a Dementor behind her.

_Oh Merlin._

Hermione knew she was prepared for this! She was still scared though, a Dementor was still not a being to be trifled with. She slowly turned around. She was ready for a Dementor. The witch would not have entered Azkaban without some countermeasures. It was all within the limits of her plan.

She gasped.

_Two Dementors!_

_Shite._

* * *

Suspencio Incantatores - Spell Suspension / Suspend Incantations

Remotio Coactionis - Compulsion/Coercion Removal

Temporalis Claustrum Obliviate - Temporary Lock Obliviate

Temporalis Recludam Obliviate - Temporary Unlock Obliviate

Protinam Tempus - Forward Time

 **AN:** Hermione's crazy plan actually begins. She really didn't want to screw over the time stream completely, so this is what she has decided. A bit more of her plan will be revealed next chapter as well. Time-Turner is almost dead though. :(

Hope you liked the part with the white lily that Hermione found in the photo in Chapter 3.

Sorry to those that wanted Hermione to be stuck in that time stream, but paradoxes!

Bella's missing a bit of energy and isn't that snarky, but it's understandable.

I also have a pretty good idea where I'm taking this story, but as always suggestions are highly appreciated! Especially the person who reminded me about the Veil!

Questions, comments, constructive criticism and suggestions are always appreciated!

 **Edit:** I received some messages from people that are confused and wanted to try and clarify a bit. Hermione's aim is to not affect the time stream too much. If you imagine her returning right now to the present, there would be nothing that would change in the past because of Hermione's Obliviate-type spells. Hermione is changing the past in a way that _none_ of the changes would be obvious, unless she releases the Obliviate lock. In the end, who's to say that everything that Hermione just did _was_ already part of the true past? - I hope that helped a bit! Playing with the time stream can be really tricky sometimes.

Well, her Time-Turner is almost busted anyway! xD


	8. Parallels

Concurrent Existences

Chapter Eight: Parallels

* * *

 

_A mind so strong yet so weak._

_Burning trails just for a peek._

_A flash of a smile, a hidden spell._

_Stuck she is, alone in hell._

* * *

 

She gasped.

_Two Dementors!_

_Shite._

* * *

 

Hermione quickly brought out a device that looked like the Deluminator that Ron had from her pocket. A Creature Absorbing Repulsor for non-beings AKA CAR.

Yes, it was named CAR by the Ministry. A lot of items from the Ministry obviously weren't available to the general public, some weren't even known to the general public and this item was one of them.

The witch hated the very stupid naming of the device and decided to call it just Repulsor, for very obvious reasons. The Repulsor was one of the more interesting things she was able to _borrow_ from the Ministry. She had a few more things, but they would yet make their debut.

The Ministry did have some kind of control on the Dementors and this particular device was one of them. The Repulsor was able to absorb any non-being, meaning Non-Human Spirituous Apparitions. After the device absorbs the particular non-being, it will be able to create a small repulsing field that dissuades any creature of the same particular type from coming close. The duration  of the repulsing field depended on how much magic could be fed into the Repulsor. The stronger the non-being trapped, the more magic required to sustain it.

The witch pushed the button on the Repulsor hoping that it would work on both Dementors. Both Dementors were quickly absorbed into the Repulsor, but Hermione already felt the pull on her magic. Her first estimate on how long she could sustain the Repulsor with one Dementor would have been around eight months. The brightest witch of her age did the recalculations based on the current drain she was feeling. Two Dementors would only give her three months before she had to release the repulsing field and barely a week before she had to release the Dementors she caught.

Bellatrix gaped at how her brown haired witch got rid of two Dementors with a press of a button. In all her studies and life experience, she had never seen that happen.

_These secrets she's holding will be the death of me._

"Let's begin. Having two Dementors caught wasn't exactly part of the plan."

Time is running out again.

* * *

 

One month passed.

"Concentrate!" The dark witch began invading Hermione's mind all over again. She did not relish the thought of hurting her love,  but the little witch insisted to be drilled hard on Occlumency and Legilimency.

It was hard. _So very hard._

Well, it was fun fucking around with her witch too.

Glimpses of the future were just among some of the things Bellatrix had seen in the younger witches mind. Nothing full and concrete, but some visions were just enough to make her cringe.

The start was fine when the memories were mostly of an innocent childhood, but the further they went with the training, the worse and more recent memories were brought up.

_All alone. Books. Tears. Knowledge. Acceptance. Reluctance. Teacher's pet._

"Aww, little witch was a teacher's pet? I wonder what else I'll find out this time?" Bellatrix said in a sing-song type of voice. Random memories always appeared in various orders.

Hermione ignored the barb. After a week of continuous training, she already surmised that falling to taunts would only distract her and leave her thoughts open to be read. Thoughts that shouldn't be seen by anyone. Not even by her dark witch.

Hermione continued to concentrate. The brunette began envisioning Bellatrix's invasion of her mind as a physical manifestation. She begun to organize her mind like a library with twisting and turning bookshelves that led on and on just like a labyrinth. Her purpose was to stall long enough and to try to feed in useless information, but sometimes Bellatrix just smashed through the bookcases in her mind.

Her witch really wasn't subtle. It was like Bellatrix had a bloody sledgehammer.

_Soft. Glances. A touch. An apology. A smile. Red hair. Desire._

"Luv, you been perving on some ginger slut I don't know about?" Bellatrix knew this was a clip from the future, but knew it would annoy her witch nevertheless. The redhead reminded her of someone though. She couldn't pinpoint the name.

_Moby? Melody? Momo? Fuck!_

Must have been someone unimportant. She shrugged.

"Shut up!" Another bookcase block in Hermione's mind just toppled. Bellatrix was a bloody bulldozer! Each extra route and block she put up continued to be knocked down! How was the dark witch so adept at this?

_Goodbye. Love. Regret. Family._

"Aww, baby missing mommy and daddy? Baby want her milky-wilky?" More taunts. It was too much, her walls were all crumbling.

"Stop! Bella! Stop!" She couldn't stop her dark witch from moving forward. Tears began to leak from Hermione's eyes, but Bellatrix did not relent. Mercy and tenderness would not help her love at this point. It was also entertaining to see into the pretty brunette's mind. Azkaban didn't leave much else to do. The dark witch pressed on.

_Slice. Screams._

"Bella!"

It was a painful memory, but Bellatrix wanted to see just a little more.

_Slice. Pleading. Laughter._

"Stop!"

Just a little more. Just a peek. See who she could get _revenge_ on for hurting her little witch.

_Slice. Mudblood. Mudblood. **Mudblood.**_

"Bellatrix!" And Hermione's mind slammed down tight. She wasn't able to see who had tormented her young witch, but it seemed the little witch was adamant to keep this knowledge tucked away. She'd find out sometime and take revenge for her little witch. Asking out loud wasn't an option since she knew how stubborn her witch was in keeping the future in the future. Bellatrix opened her eyes.

Angry brown eyes looked back at her. Perhaps she had gone too far?

_Oops._

The brunette used her sleeve to wipe at her tears and laid down on the charmed ground facing away from the dark witch.

"Little witch?" No answer. Maybe she had gone too far. No point in continuing their lessons for today. The witch had been able to cut the connection before vital information was taken. All in all, it was a successful lesson for the day.

Too bad, it seemed like there would be no cuddles tonight. She sighed and did the same facing the other way.

She heard a bit of shuffling and soon enough an arm went over her waist.

Warmth spread throughout Bellatrix as she held the hand on her waist. A tear of joy almost fell out.

Almost.

She was still Bellatrix Black.

But even Bellatrix Black wanted cuddles, and it seemed like tonight would have cuddles after all.

* * *

 

Two months passed since the little witch had arrived. Sadly, their training was nearly complete.

After the mishap near a month ago, Hermione steadily grew better at Occlumency. Her mental traps and walls were near flawless now. Even with Bellatrix trying her near best to get through those walls, she could barely see anything and could barely hear the whisper of memories. Of course, she could have augmented her assault with magic, but she didn't want to call upon an army of Dementors. The dark witch doubted the Repulsor would repulse a legion of those horrid beings.

The thought of a legion of Dementors just gave Bellatrix a cold sweat.

Halfway through the second month, Hermione had begun her Legilimency and just recently, she actually began to knockdown Bellatrix's walls and her _bloody_ walls were nothing to scoff at. Even the dark lord had trouble bypassing them.

There was a month left before the three month mark would be hit and they did not want to chance the Ministry borrowed device to fail prematurely.

The past two months were amongst the best times of Bellatrix's life even if they were spent behind Azkaban bars. She was scared at first that her little witch would have missed one thing or another, but it seemed like Hermione had everything planned out. From her food storage to undetectable magic, or at least hiding her magic signature. Even the very seldom roaming guard that gave her food didn't suspect anything.

The dark witch thought about trying to learn a bit about stealth, but _eh_.

Hermione had really outdone herself with the food too in her opinion. Sandwiches and whatever else they could find in that bottomless bag seemed always fresh.

The dark witch would be really sad when her lunchbox would have to leave, her witch too of course!

They still had around a month and the dark witch doubted Hermione would have a breakthrough anytime soon.

Boy was she _wrong_.

* * *

 

_Missing. Bitterness._

Hermione grabbed onto the memory. She knew she had to try better in order to fully master Legilimency or at least be adept at it. Memories with strong emotions were usually the easiest ones to latch onto, they were sometimes also the most painful.

_Alone. Cissy. Marriage. Andy. Abandoned._

She could see Bellatrix slowly lose her sisters in her mind. She could see vulnerability. She could see the hole that she left in Bellatrix's heart. She could see.

She could see.

_Voldemort._

She could see how he saw the hole in Bellatrix's heart after she left, even if the dark witch did not know what she was missing. How he saw the opportunity to subdue and anchor a witch to himself that had greater potential than himself. A way to harness as well as limit the potential of the dark witch for his own uses.

No wonder Voldemort said emotions were a weakness. He used that particular weakness against a witch that would have been greater than himself. A witch that would have been world renowned, had she had the chance.

_The utter bastard._

Was it her fault? It couldn't be. She was not even supposed to be part of that particular time stream. It couldn't be. The brunette could feel Bellatrix's walls begin to tighten, trying to kick her out. The walls began to warp themselves in order to block her, but she wanted to see just a bit more.

Normally, it would have been impossible to go against a witch of her caliber, but she had her cheats after all. She tapped a little into her armlet. _More_. How had Voldemort wormed his way in?

_Indifference. Apathy._

Bellatrix had been introduced to Voldemort. Tom Marvolo Riddle. The initial feeling was nothing though, the Black heiress wanted to get rid of him.

_Tutor. Annoyance._

A private tutor? A mentor from his parents? Voldemort? Was that his ploy? _More_. She needed more, but the walls continued to tighten. She activated her earring. Just a bit more.

_Annoyance. Admiration. Love. Confusion._

She knew it. The process had been too quick. The dark witch was put under the exact same thing she was put under.

_Bloody Compulsion Charms._

The only difference was that hers was for the _light_ and Bellatrix had been charmed to darkness. She highly doubted that the light or the dark side were good and evil respectively though. Looks like Voldemort had followed in his teacher's footsteps after all.

Hermione knew she should have stopped the mental prying, but she wanted to know more about her love. She wanted to know more about her dark witch. Know more about her life and know who to **_punish._**

The mental walls were almost made out of diamond. She doubted that Voldemort or even Dumbledore could get through Bellatrix's mind barriers without handicap, but she had her boosters. She activated her ring. It was slightly invigorating that she needed to use all three of her trinkets at full power just to go through Bellatrix's mental shields. Her dark witch was barely in her thirties and she was already this powerful even after being held back by Voldemort.

It was scary to think what Bellatrix could have achieved on her own. If she had actually continued to get powerful without the trip to Azkaban. How had Albus overlooked the now-crazed witch?

How did Dumbledore miss the compulsion spells on Bellatrix? It should have been obvious that Voldemort was still alive due to the continuous compulsion spells still on Bellatrix. Had he just overlooked anyone not on the side of the light?

_Mansion. Pain. Father. Orders. Disobey. Follow. Stop. Finish. Abandon._

Hermione's connection was abruptly cut. She could feel her magic trinkets discharge as they had nothing to focus on. She could see the dark witch's face contorted in pain as she was bleeding from biting her lip hard and bleeding from gripping too tight. This was not how it was supposed to go.

"No. That memory is not for you little witch." Bellatrix let out in a sad, pained whisper.

Both could feel the abrupt magical discharge resound through Azkaban like an expanding shockwave. Dementors, guards, prisoners and whatever else on Azkaban must have felt it. Hermione cringed.

She _fucked_ up.

The six months she planned that had been reduced to three due to the two Dementors. Of the three months left, she had around one month, but now she had mere seconds.

The magic wouldn't be traced to this particular location since it had been too wide spread, but they would search and check thoroughly now. None of the spells in her arsenal would be enough to hide from them all. She had to leave.

She had to leave her witch again.

"No need to say anything little witch. It's obvious that time is up. Too bad we didn't have more time to play around a little bit." Bellatrix gave a pained smile that looked a bit gruesome due to the blood trailing down her mouth, but Hermione didn't care.

Hermione surged forward and locked lips with her witch trying to pour all the emotions she was feeling. Love, hope, apologies, understanding and everything else. The moment felt like forever, but it lasted only a few seconds.

"I'll see you when I have gray hair, I guess?" Bella said trying to lighten things up, but she could feel the Dementors and guards getting closer. The dark witch could also feel her heart breaking as she would spend the remainder of Azkaban alone.

Hermione smiled. Focusing on the spell she needed to cast.

"Temporalis Claustrum Obliviate." Memories locked.

There would be no goodbyes.

"Reflexum Hiberna." This way her witch would be able somewhat sleep through and go through Azkaban in a daze. Bellatrix's eyes went into an unseeing daze in an instant after the spell was cast.

"Suspencio Remissionis." Everything was placed back the way it was supposed to be. Even the _bloody_ compulsion charms from Voldemort. Hermione would fix everything in her time.

One last wave to remove all the other enchantments placed around the room and it was time to move forward. She gathered enough power to propel herself to the exact time she wanted. Calculations after one or two trials made things too easy.

"Protinam Tempus."

Hermione had so much she wanted to change, but the plan she had thought out would continue.

She just had to collect a few more things _lost_ in time.

Things someone _dropped._

* * *

 

Suspencio Remissionis - Suspension Release (Resumes any suspended spells.)

Reflexum Hiberna - Reflex Hibernation (Person affected will be in a daze until lifted.)

**AN:** Thanks as always for all the feedback! Sorry for getting slow, but a lot of schoolwork and other games are eating my time. I'll still be updating every week at the minimum though. My thoughts have also been drifting to Frozen too x.x

Hermione really did want to complete her training in _all_ aspects of magic. Legilimency and Occlumency were the two branches she couldn't really test, but now? She should be good enough to block most people. The brunette will of course continue her training passively.

Closer and closer to the present. Think the Time-Turner will blow up before then?

What will happen to Bella? All these memory modifiers must be annoying as hell.

Questions, comments, constructive criticism and suggestions are always appreciated!


End file.
